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sm2345

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  1. https://mega.nz/#!bZQhFKhY!x582PSjU9QOKM55qlBJDGvS7WYsbelh0yDy6Ci_-SuE Here you go!
  2. Holy cow, this works! It works!! You just saved me over 20 GB on my limited space SSD for a Windows 7 VM install that wouldn't even maximize to fullscreen and a suboptimal VN experience. Thank you so much! :') @Tay or a mod, can we put this problem, the list of affected games and the possible workaround that @binaryfail posted here to somewhere so that it doesn't get lost in the forum for future reference? Thanks!
  3. Hi guys, So it seems a few VNs that were released in 2010 to 2012, and happen to use version 2.47, 2.48 or 2.49 of the ShiinaRio game engine, don't work with Windows 8 onwards. These are the lists: https://anonym.to/?http://green.ribbon.to/~erog/Note022.html https://anonym.to/?http://green.ribbon.to/~erog/Note021.html According to this site (scroll down to the 椎名里緒 part) : http://bit.ly/2q8Z4zS Versions 2.47 to 2.49 have some idiosyncrasies with scripting and therefore don't run in Windows 8 and above. Is there any way to make these run on Windows 8 and up? I kinda ended up buying one of them (Mimi wo sumaseba / みみをすませば) that runs ShiinaRio v2.47 (even though the trial version runs v2.46!) and it doesn't work... Would someone be kind enough to investigate if there's any way to run these titles? I did try copy-pasting a v2.46 exe of the same game, but it didn't let me through, throwing a "Program Version Error", so if we could get around that somehow, maybe it'll work? Thanks in advance! EDIT: I should also add that my language for non-unicode programs is set to Japanese.
  4. Good point. But do they have a scene where she plays with the water gun? In the game itself I mean... I can't remember. As for your 2nd question, don't mind that and keep on reading.
  5. Yep, that was originally how the Miu route was meant to be enjoyed. In my case, only a couple of days had passed since I read it so I remembered most of it. Therefore didn't feel like reading it again. Even though Miu's so cute, it's rude to her... I know. That's just a personal musing on which route order would be maximally profitable in terms of impact and fun.
  6. Ah, finished them sans Michiru. Indeed, as such, this VN has no "common route" in that sense of the word. And enjoy the cute faces she makes when angry. Oh, the voice acting for her is great too, so might be a good idea to listen to that.
  7. Miu Well, he was right. This is not a route, but a mini-route. That can be finished in 15 minutes tops. The content is itself not bad, just standard charage stuff. Don't expect anything great. Final thoughts On hindsight, I might not have needed to split the whole VN into so many posts. But I thought of writing them as soon as I finished them, so it ended up being that format. Anyway, I'll just list down my complaints first: 1. The central plot device could have been explained better. Especially why the routes are ordered like they are. I understand they have tried to put forward a world lines theory of sorts, but that doesn't hold candle in terms of clarity and usage when compared to a certain other famous VN with world lines as its genre. 2. Was there really a need for a Michiru route, at all? She plays a brilliant support character in the other routes, so was it needed? All that being said, I enjoyed almost all the routes, each in their own ways. Misaki's route had me grinning like anything, Makoto's route was really exciting, and Cro's route was an awesome ride and the best of the lot. And I really liked the different route format, i.e. the climax is almost always about the confession, enabling ichaicha to be kept to a bare minimum (*glares at Senren Banka*). So yeah, apart from Cro's route, this is your average charage I guess, with a more classic galge-type route structure. That's it. Maybe I'll resume Rena's route in Senren Banka next. Aka long flurry of posts should calm down for a while, lol.
  8. Cro And the VN threw a curveball at me when I was thinking it was a charage all along... The first part was so fluffy I was afraid I'd float away from my desk out of the window. I cried quite some during the climax. And then cried some more in the epilogue. All that being said, the story in this route is a bit different from all the 4 other routes till this point. The situation and the setting itself was pretty crazy, but they actually went through with it. Of course, the conflicts that arose made up part of the drama. But that climax in the route, and the events both leading to it and following it was a cryfest that I enjoyed from the bottom of my heart. I was really starting to doubt if this VN would be any good. Thankfully, this route redeemed the VN itself to me... of sorts. That being said, I really couldn't help but wonder if the 4 routes prior to this could've been better... And at long last, the clock will strike twelve once again. Let's see what the final end has in store. I would personally be really satisfied if this were the true end, really.
  9. D.D. Well, what can I say... This route felt so much better than the all other 3 routes. I think you should do yourself a favor and save this for the last, not only because this is probably the most emotions packed in it, but there's another different reason I won't spoil, and you might realize if you're reading VNs for some time. It also happens to be the most "conclusive" of the lot for obvious plot reasons. To be honest, I cried a little. Overall, based on the above 4 routes, I say a good order would be Misaki/Michiru --> Makoto/Michiru --> D.D. Michiru's route is a wildcard for me since hers is a genre I don't dig much, but if you want that out of the way first, best to do that first. So, only Cro's and Miu's routes are left. All routes in this VN are so different from each other, compared to Senren Banka, where they have a central plot element linking them together in some way or the other. But there is very little of the sort so far in these 4 routes. And I cannot tell due to the English translation if they have been written by the same person or not, but that's another question altogether. This format may or may not be liked.
  10. Um, except the words are not "very commonly used" for me, I'm afraid. If you want an analogy in Japanese, it would be this, where the words he introduces are spoken by the Japanese people on a daily basis in many places, yet we who learn Japanese from outside don't have much of a way to know them: That being said, it would be fun to know things like this in English, I guess, haha.
  11. To be frank, I originally planned on writing a combined post on D.D. and Makoto once I finished reading both their routes, but turns out I didn't have the steam to read route after route in succession, so pardon me while I write them in separate posts. Makoto First of all, this route is much shorter than both Misaki and Michiru routes. About 2/3rd, or even close to 3/5th, I'd say, given it took 2 hours even reading slowly. That being said, honestly speaking, this route caught me off guard. Like, really off guard. Without spoiling much, all I can say is that this route adds in something that was not present in the other two routes. Also, it actually has some suspense in it, so I found myself enjoying it in a different manner than the other two routes I've read before. The best part of it all for me was the climax of the heroine route. Next up is the D.D. route. I wonder if I should've finished that one first, because the first few minutes do not seem very interesting. Maybe it will change as I progress, but not today atleast...
  12. EDIT2: Well, this post seems to be drawing quite a lot of flak than I expected. To be honest, at first, I intended to use this post to list the phrases I didn't understand during the course of reading it. But due to my tone, I ended up coming off as arrogant and not willing to learn, which I won't deny. This only shows how little practical English I know. Thank you for the comments, guys. I'll put in more effort. EDIT: Before anyone misunderstands, let me first say the script is very good. It flows really well, puns untranslatable directly to English are handled alternatively well, and feels professional. Hell, even the characters' individual speaking styles are accounted for, like D.D. speaking in a British English of sorts, and Michiru and Cro both using formal and archaic languages respectively. However, I was not able to understand all of them, and hence wrote this post to make a list of the same. I don't mean to bash the localization guys in any way, despite how I sound. All right, I kinda thought of putting in the Misaki post, but the list got so long I thought this deserves its own post. I'll keep adding more as I come across them. Allow me to make a list of phrases I didn't know and/or didn't understand, partly due to not being a native speaker and partly not being aware of phrases particular to US English(?). I don't know if I should blame myself for not knowing these or the people who worked on its localization for using such stuff. I highly doubt anyone who's not a native speaker will get all of these... In case of fansubs, such a post will be met with disdain ("Please look it up in the dictionary"), but well, given this is a VN localization is for the US market, all is forgiven? No idea. 1. "Roger, wilco". Roger what? 2. "You look like you can make a boo-boo, though." Booing? 3. "The sandman would've gotten me if I felt bored." Who's the sandman? Some comic superhero? 4. Senpai = buster? What's a buster? Busted? As in those racing games where you get busted by cops? 5. "My sister, the kibitzer." The wot? 6. "...and I can't chillax at all." Is it somethinghax like those 3DS things? 7. "10-4 mi amor"??? 10-4 = Roger that (had I not seem some American films I wouldn't know this, seriously), and mi amor? Latin? 8. "The Mistress's going barmy! Completely barmy, I say!" What's barmy? Some slang? No, I can't be bothered googling. 9. "It's a fair cop!" A fair policeman? 10. "Go hit the books, Rei" aka study well I guess? Phew, I got that one! 11. "Given the circumstances, I guess that'd make me Larry." Who's Larry? Your neighbor? Is it some obscure sci-fi drama reference?
  13. Well, since I marathoned Misaki's route in another 3 hours after I wrote the last post, I thought I'd write about it here. Misaki Well... I admit. I am quite fond of the tsundere genre, maybe because I haven't been overexposed to it to death yet? Nevertheless, after I read this, I realised it'd have been several times harder to choose Michiru had I finished this route first. So choosing Michiru was a blessing in disguise of sorts I guess. Why? First off, maybe I am highly biased but this route felt much better than Michiru's route. The mostly idiotic conversations between Rei and Misaki had me grinning from ear to ear for the most part. And damn it, Misaki's cute as hell! In case of Misaki, I was most likely able to enjoy it more because she's a mix of stereotypes I am quite fond of: Kouhai and Tsundere. Also, the fact that she's strong. Michiru is strong in her own sense, but for Misaki, she just grew on me as the route went on, hopefully disproving the fact that she's just a shallow tsundere. Frankly, her character was the just amount of tsun, dere, and courage in this route that made it appealing. Oh, there is ichaicha of sorts, but it's not the usual one, due to reasons I won't spoil. Even then, if I look at it critically, both these two routes felt so shallow... But that might be a good thing because the story is what they call stable, with very little drama that got resolved easily. So if you like a headstrong tsundere kouhai who's outright cute, and don't like much drama, then you'll likely enjoy this route. I wonder if I should expect this much amount of depth every time though... The story part of my brain isn't satisfied at all, even though other parts of the brain are fine. Nevertheless, onto Makoto and then D.D.
  14. Well, I do seem to be jumping about different VNs, alongwith watching anime and all, but yeah, variety makes it exciting! Anyway, with Chrono Clock having been released on Steam and other platforms, and me having them, I thought of giving Purplesoft a spin. Because why not? But, first things first. It's been a while since I last read a translated VN (a couple of years I guess?), and this is an official localization of the same. So, I kind of want to get rid of that itch in my back first. Thing is, the official localization... is pretty good, English-wise. It has a professional aura to it, and the English is quite well done and flows well in my opinion. It's just... there are places where it felt over-localized. It might be me preferring a more literal translation, but still. I mean, do teenagers in the US use swearwords like the f-word as part of their daily lives that frequently? I don't know, since I'm not from the US. And maybe that's why I kinda grew hazy on whether I was reading a VN or not... Sometimes it felt like a VN, yet didn't feel like one. It might be just me havign some culture shock though. Nevertheless, I feel this is quite good with people who are not familiar with VNs and don't need to know everything that's under the hood regarding Japanese culture. However, I might be more comfortable reading it in Japanese after all, dunno. The drop of honorifics was quite jarring to be frank, but I guess those are not needed for the casual VN reader? In conclusion, the localization is well done, but... some things are irreversibly lost in translation. It sometimes also felt that there was more than what met the eye that could not be completely conveyed. Ah, English seems to be such a restricted language now, haha. Moving on, the VN itself. Do keep in mind that I'll be biased somewhat due to the English translation... Oh, another thing. The unlock order of routes are: Michiru / Misaki / D.D. / Makoto --> Cro --> Miu. So Cro's route will be unlocked only if the other 4 heroines' routes are finished and so on. (Hurk, so many girls' names starting with M) Common route Well, this has a rather odd common route. If I say so, unique. This quite digresses from the usual pattern of either the protagonist knowing the heroines well, or the one where he meets then one by one, and is then asked to make choices. It did feel slightly forced to be frank, but overall, was not bad. Now, I cannot comment about the writing since it is not the original writing I read, but rather one through the mirror of the localization guys over at Sekai Project. The choices for routes are pretty straightforward... mostly. The events... well, it's more like a classic VN to me, where events happen with different heroines. Not too much deep. To be frank, I cannot recall the same well. Maybe the common route did not leave that much of an impression on me. Michiru All right, I'll be frank. I usually avoid doing Blood-related sister routes. And Michiru was pretty much last on my list, just because I wanted to unlock the other two heroines' routes. But due to, ahem, choice, I ended up on the route. To be honest, I was so confident that I'd made the correct choice that I didn't realize that I was actually on the Michiru route till just before the confession. That being said, I'm grateful they didn't put any H-scenes for the route in the middle of the route, leaving them to be read as separate scenes after the route is completed. And that gets it huge plus points for me. Content-wise... it was not bad. A little bit touching too. But... maybe because I read through it too fast, but I didn't quite realize the steps and jumps in their relationship. It... just felt shallow. Is it because I read through it too fast? (finished the route in 3 hours from the split) Or is it because I was not in the route I originally planned to be in? Or was it because I don't like doing blood-related sister heroines in general? Was the writing itself not deep enough for me? Did the localization lose too much in translation? Or is it a mix of all of these factors? I liked the events, yeah. But to be frank, I was not as touched as I was, say while reading Mako's route in Senren Banka. Nevertheless, let's see how it turns out. On to Misaki's route!
  15. I see. Well, I haven't read Amagami yet, but given how the screenshot above looks... But I think the actual thing on the Vita screen looks better than that.
  16. Since they are giving this game in this month's Free-to-play games for PS Plus subscribers, I decided to give it a shot. This is a dating sim in its purest sense I guess. You basically have to find girls, talk to them well, and then go towards their route, having somewhere around 49 days, 4 slots per day to do so. Another plus point about this game is that it has a component of taking pictures of the girl you like. I found myself guilty pleasure in this, and enjoyed it quite a bit. However, since this is not an 18+ game, but rather 17+, it's a good thing for me. The gameplay is done well imo, since you can vary your angle and position quite flexibly, and there are different poses. Apart from that, the PS Vita can be rotated physically to get an angle and distance. They use the Gyro sensors in the Vita for this, and hey, it's quite nice. I preferred the traditional analog sticks approach more comfortable though. Now onto the route I cleared: Mai's, and my advice to anyone wanting to try this out would be: Don't go looking for a deep story with this. Just enjoy your days in the world being the main character. It provided a very nice break from the usual VNs for me. However, given the route's depth, it's quite well-written, I feel. Especially the last parts, where they wrap things up nicely. I personally was emotionally attached enough and enjoying the game to read it for 11 hours straight, including cooking and eating in between. Oh, and the little sister is not a heroine, for once. Phew. Scratch that. Apparently she is unlocked as a heroine if one gets all the other heroines' ends. While I am not against little sisters as heroines, I would like to see more of them as support characters, which is drawn out quite well here. The only qualm I have is the lack of number of save slots... it seems to have only 9 of them, which I used up in the course of the ending. Oh, and the fact that you cannot take screenshots normally. You can turn the photos you took into screenshots though. Well, I doubt I'll read any other routes in this VN cos it's just so much work, and the other heroines don't really appeal to me, except Hikari, maybe. Some others are stereotypes I detest, especially glasses+senpai+cool. Ugh. The one thing that feels really different about these gameplay-oriented dating sims is that you have more control on your actions, rather than selecting a choice while going "Oh, this definitely leads to X Heroine's route" and being done with it. And for me, it feels slightly more personal, for some reason (which is why I enjoyed it so much, as well as highly doubt I'll be reading the other routes). All that being said, have some pixelated awesomeness that is Mai-chan, shot by yours truly:
  17. Two thousand lines of H-scenes... *runs for the hills* That being said, as a general reply, the route isn't bad at all: it's quite well-written, and packs emotional impact. I'm just grumbling about the excess H-scenes in Mako's route and excess ichaicha in Yoshino's route. I guess I have a low tolerance for them...
  18. Finished up Mako's route just now. This was actually done over two separate days, one back in end-November, and another, now. The 6 hours part from the starting of the route till the confession felt like a blissful dream and went by in an instant. Reading it was so fun and enjoyable. I decided to resume the part after that after some time. But it might be because I had not read the story for over 1 month, or it might just be due to my preferences, but I was not able to enjoy it as much in this sitting compared to last time. It again turned into a Ctrl-pressing fest for the ichaicha parts. The heroine route drama was quite good. But here again, there was the "What happens to her in other routes if the protagonist aka me is saving her so much in her route?" twinge of guilt that Clephas had already talked about when he wrote about his thoughts on the VN. I didn't really feel it as much during Yoshino's route, but it felt quite that way in this one. It's not a feeling I like, but I hope that in other routes also, her life changes just the way it did here. Same for the other heroines as well. As for the complaints, I have mainly two: there were quite a few H-scenes in this route, more than Yoshino's. I had known and expected this to happen, but then again... The other one is the well... rather personally dissatisfying epilogue. I mean, there could've been more closure, or something like what they do or where they go from that point, just like Yoshino's route, but I was disappointed. Everything apart, the route is quite well written, and art quality is really high. It was quite good, I'd say. I plan on reading the remaining routes in the following order: Rena -> Roka / Koharu -> Murasame. Cos best girl the last. Always. (On that note, I tend to dislike VNs where I cannot do this.)
  19. Well, thanks lol. That's one less thing to worry about.
  20. I'll make a more detailed post about this later, but apparently Hoori (the name of the town) is based on real-life Kyoto, including spots as the Ninen-zaka and Sannen-zaka. And the Tomita family shrine is based on Ikuta Shrine in Sannomiya, Kobe. Too lazy right now, but hopefully by the end of this month, I'll make a more detailed writeup. Hopefully... If someone is going to Japan before that and would like to see the spots, please drop me a message. I'll unlazy myself and get to work...
  21. Maker: Yuzusoft Release Date: mid-2016. I had run into this VN by chance when I was looking through the ones about to come out back in May. I read the trial first, and enjoyed it a lot. Enough to pre-order the VN and collect all the goodies (sans the NSFW stuff of course). This VN is set in a fictional modern-day town in Japan that happened to escape modernization and has only recently started coming in contact with the normal world. Our protagonist arrives there initially to help out his grandfather with his ryokan (Japanese inn), and then gets dragged into various stuff. Whether I enjoy a VN or not depends on a few factors... Do the characters have depth? Are the interactions humane? How natural is the drama? I can say this VN ticks most of the checkboxes. The characters are very likeable for me, each with their unique traits. The writing is not bad. The protagonist, Arichi Masaomi, is quite a likeable guy. He is your typical(?) nice guy, helpful and funny at times. Oh also, he has a strong will, and is proactive. It's nice seeing the world from such a person's perspective. The common route was quite good, and the trial version ends at a cliffhanger about 70% in the common route. The splits are of course decided by choices made during the common route, and it happens somewhere midway through the VN. Yoshino This was the route I did first. It sort of extends the drama in the common route and is based on her problems. While Yoshino is sometimes way too serious, she has a strong sense of duty and obligation, as made apparent in the common route. I especially enjoyed her banters with Masaomi, which were playful and serious at the same time. Unfortunately for me, her route felt a little forced. While I enjoyed the drama, I was not able to get into her route much. Nevertheless, it was a nice route, especially the epilogue, which was very heartwarming to see. Mako This is the route I am currently on, and I am finding it far more enjoyable. To the extent that I started reading at 6 PM last night, and when I looked up, it was midnight. The drama over here seems to be much more mild, and it has elements of a more "normal" route (if that can be defined at all). The thing is, in case of Yoshino, much of progress had already been made, but here, it starts from almost zero. And the route is so well-written. It might be just me, but I could sense that the author put a lot of love into writing this route. The interactions between Mako and Masaomi felt very natural, without sounding Ichaicha. However, this route is supposed to be the naughtiest one, judging from the number of H scene slots, and the overall development of events. Fun fact: Mako blushes like this only once in the whole trial. Or perhaps in the common route. She is that cool. Maybe you can find it. I'll post some more once I have finished the Mako route, and moved on to Rena's. Though I doubt I will enjoy it as much as Mako's route...
  22. Let me put down a few clarifying points regarding this blog. I kind of felt that I had to write down my feelings about VNs I read somewhere, and this seems to be a nice place for the same. I also drew much of my inspiration from Clephas, who is my guru when it comes to VNs (I proclaim this myself). 0. This blog is NOT a review or what-to-read-next-recommendations site. This is only about the VNs I read and want to write about. Besides, I have got nowhere enough experience to be doing that. Clephas VN home is the place I recommend you go for the same. The only ones I can recommend are the ones I enjoyed reading, regardless of their flaws or things like that. 2. I don't read a lot of VNs in a short period. While I enjoy reading VNs a lot, it is impossible for me to read several VNs in a short span of time, simply because my speed is not enough. 3. My thoughts WILL be biased towards heroines I find more likeable. This is also part of the reason why my posts won't count as "reviews". They won't be unbiased. I will tend to gush more about heroine routes I liked, rather than trying to judge them from an objective viewpoint. 4. You may or may not like what I like. This goes without saying, but I had to make it clear. Each person has their own way of thinking and expectations from VNs. That being said... I'll dive in.
  23. I don't think he plays trial versions...
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