Nerathim

I wonder where you can get books for such low price

A) No, I'm talking about all aspects of writing. Content, pacing, ... you know, let's talk pacing. Most VNs have trash pacing, compromised by including copious slice of life scenes within a story with a plot. Setting, the reuse of the high school setting is really quite telling - rule of thumb, a piece of entertainment tends to be aimed at people who are the same age as the protagonist, so if you have a young protagonist it's a story aimed at young people. Generally speaking. The content in VNs tend to impress a lot of young people, especially because they're (as a whole) fascinated with ideas and don't really care much about execution, but I don't see how the content is much to write home about, tbh. Even Gahkthun managed to set the damn thing in a school.
B) Another rule of thumb, don't compare pieces to authors who wrote their 1st drafts in publishable prose. Dostoevsky wrote in a raw manner, and his works benefited from being written in a raw manner, and some of his translators later went on to say his prose style was carefully crafted. It's extremely difficult to write something which comes off as clumsy and raw while not being actually anywhere near as clumsy as first appeared. Its rawness amplified its passion. Its rawness amplified its authenticity. In general, you (the normal public) cannot write like Dostoevsky (one of the greatest genius' in the world of literature) so don't even try. Also, EVERY writer gets criticised a lot. It's the way of things.
C) It happened in English also, but it had nothing to do with his 'ugly writing'. His works were 'localised' into 'Victorian' English (a very polite society) so it would appeal more to the Upper Class audience.
D) We don't "pay too much attention to 'writing'". A storyteller's job is to convey the story to the reader, convey the imagery to the reader in an effective manner. 'Writing' or 'prose' is the way which we achieve that. Without visuals, we create impact with words, with sentence construction, with passive or active, we create images through description, this is how the reader feels or views the story, through our words, and that is why those words are important. To say 'we pay too much attention to the writing' well ... that's how the reader experiences the story, it is thus very important. Unless you do a Telltale and go interactive movie.

Great review, but you could've also mentioned how well researched was the biblical mythology stuff. It gives a fair share of uniqueness to the VN.

http://reviews.fuwanovel.net/2016/04/14/tokyo-babel/
 
I give this one five out of five stars.
How many of you have finished this one? What did you think?

I finished this up last night and wrote my review. It should go live sometime later today, or tomorrow at the absolute latest. In short: I liked it a lot. In length: Read the review, dummy. 
I'm gonna miss it after spending the last two weeks with it. So long, Tokyo Babel, you were good while you lasted.

It's almost stupid to choose in which medium you believe or not. In fact, it is stupid. Fictions are fictions, no matter how you experience them, be it books, vns or movies. I don't gulp down what I read out of credulity but it still manages me to make me curious on several subjects; which leads me to make some research on the matter and actually learn something as a result (or just to think about what I am experiencing if it is somehow thought-provoking). And that happens in every single medium.
You can't dismiss a whole medium no matter what it is as it will never be inherently inferior or superior to anything by itself.

Hey, everyone! I'm a brand new member who's registered to announce my Baldr Sky translation project. To be clear, I am the translator. So far I've finished the first chapter, but before going on too much further, I'd like to recruit a hacker so I can start editing the text in game. As of now, I'm not looking to fill any other positions, but that will come at a later date.
Here's an example of my translation for anyone interested.
This isn't the final translation. I still plan to look over it more on my own and have an experienced editor work on it in the future.
In any case, if you have the skills to help and would like to make this project a reality, please let me know.
EDIT
I now have someone working with me, so for the time being, the position is filled. I'll update with any changes to the situation.

Which is ridiculous, because this game is actually quite great. The VN community is so utterly enamored with the elite set of action chuuni titles that get hyped to hell and back that any title in the same genre that isn't part of that group just gets ignored completely, especially if it's all-ages. The age rating is completely irrelevant to this title, though. It doesn't feel like it lacks maturity in any way, nor does it feel like it ever glosses over any important events. Everything just works, nothing is lacking. 
Oh well, this is how the VN fanbase has always been. I've been expecting this the whole time, while really hoping I was wrong.

I am so sick of waiting for SubaHibi, I don't understand why they chose to license the translation when it was so nearly finished this is ridiculous.

You can do a spoiler tag just writting:


About Kara no Shoujo 2 - absolutely. Even if you get spoiled by this, there is so much other things to discover that is really a worth reading title. But please stay away from spoilers from now on and enjoy rest of the VN.  

M from Shikkoku no Sharnoth, embodied perfection.
 
 

M from Shikkoku no Sharnoth, embodied perfection.
 
 

I could probably go on and on, but I'll just say Beatrice from Umineko, and Mary from Sharnoth. I'm a huuuuuuge sucker for Victorian dresses. I like Beatrice's outfit more, but Mary gets extra points for heterochromia.
 

Go for Hanachirasu, you can hardly find a better antihero in any translated VN atm

Ask and you shall receive
VNDB: https://vndb.org/v11033
So,  Gahkthun was my introduction to Liar-Soft's "Beautiful"/Steampunk series, and I must say I am very much looking for all this series has to offer. Anyhoo, Gahkthun was a very rich experience: I was hyping this game to no end, and as it finally marathoned it in about 3 days (or about 27-ish hours). I was feeling very fufilled but also quite empty after this adventure. As this game is at the moment fresh in my mind, I though it would be a great time to tell you beautiful people my honest feelings for this game. Now then, let us begin.
Story
The story of Gahkthun is a rather good one. Basically, one man declares a rebellion against the leading force of Marceilles Offshore Academia, the Governing Counil, and within, the leaders, The Supreme Six. Before that our dear protagonist, Nikola Tesla, saves our main heroine, Neon Scalar Smilja. Together these two solve all sorts of supernatural mysteries, evildoers, and perhaps, maybe something even more vile. The story progresses at an comfortable pace and introduces characters in a pace that isn't too fast nor too slow. As the story progresses it never gets stale and keeps getting progressively more serious, but also gives the player breathers so that the player can chew what has just happened. Gahkthun Brings many odd titles and names, which for me brought great deal of confusion, but Gahkthun has a handy Encyclopedia to look up these alien terms and names, so they shouldn't prove any major issues. At the start Gahkthun has a lot of loose ends. These loose ends get enlightened when the story progresses, but most of them are in sow form connected to the chapter you're reading. In the final chapter, all the loose ends that are leftover (there are a lot) get answered, and the conclusions are earth-shattering, at least for me, giving the story fulfillment. The ending of Gahkthun is nothing extremely special, but gives you fulfillment, completion. A happy end, in other words. I quite enjoyed the ending of Gahkthun. Honestly, Gahkthun is kind of shounen-esque and repetitive, but as it was fresh to me, I liked it. 
Characters
Almost all of the characters in Gahkthun are either interesting or enjoyable, if not both. One of the main characters, Tesla is hands-down my favorite MC to this day. Neon had her fair share of cringe-worthy moments, but I overall liked her in the end. The Governing Council's Supreme Six all have unique individualistic personalities and traits with clear motives most of the time, making them all quite likeable, some more than others. Other minor characters have their moments, but most of them are rather bland, but still somewhat likeable in the end. Extra mentions to the stern, yet kind Anna, always cheerful Izumi, and the kind and sweet Odenne. Characters are for the most part fantastic.
Voice Acting
The voice acting in Gahkthun is great. All of the characters voices are well fleshed out and quite good. As Gahkthun has a lot of fighting scenes, the voices don't sound awkward in those, rather they sound aggressive, intense and serious, just how they should. Voice acting in the H-scenes is average: In some scenes it is great, but in some scenes it sounds awkward. Most of the time awkward, but at the same time really well done. But they aren't a major part of the story, nor the voice acting, it shouldn't pose as something you can't overcome. 
Art
Art in Gahkthun is maybe the best I have ever seen in a Visual Novel. The lines are crisp, the colors are vibrant and colorful, full of emotion. The character designs are somehow in the norm, yet different. They are fantastic: The eyes, proportions, robust, anatomy, almost everything. The CGs are really well made and usually have action-like cut-ins, which are nice. As said before, the fighting scenes are made beautifully with the help of these vibrant, intense CGs. The H-scenes' art is rather average comprared to the rest of Gahkthun. They have only one or two still-picture CGs, but they are brilliantly colored and the faces are really well done, albeit these scenes' art is somewhat dull. The backgrounds are done extremely well.
Writing
The writing in Gahkthun is honestly the best I have seen in a long time in a VN. The words make the dialogue flow rather nicely, it is easy to follow and the lines aren't cramped nor full, just spacious and easy on the eye. The translation was very well done, professional work, however I felt that the translation was kind of over-explaining things. When I listened to the Japanese voice acting, sometimes the lines we're almost doubled in contrast to the voice acting, and sometimes the voices ended way before I finished reading the lines through, which doesn't happen often to me. This however is just minor nitpicking, and shouldn't affect the experience, but for me it did, even if it did for just a little bit..
Music
Gahkthun's music was great. Most of the tracks were great for background music and for creating an atmosphere, but nothing more. The OP, ED and two fighting scene tracks are good enough for me to listen them when doing something else. 
UI and Mechanics
The UI and mechanics we're slightly different than usual. The Encyclopedia is one thing, and that is almost for all the mechanics, which is rather disappointing for an expansive, fleshed out world like this on, but it still is more than your average VN. The UI was honestly a let-down. The placement of the different buttons was cleverly made, but the negatives outweighs the positives for the most. There is no backlog per se, there just is the past dialogue if you scroll up or press the button. The Auto mode works rather well, but disables itself if you press anything and skips to the next line, which was a little annoying when I was playing through it. Other than that it had an average UI, nothing special. 
Settings
These were really lackluster. They were as bare-bones as you could get. The simplest sound settings: just sliders. Fullscreen or 600x800 windowed, nothing special. Text speed has three options. Honestly, I would've hoped for a slider, but oh well, you get what you get. Disappointing, to say the least.
 
So, when all that is rated, Gahkthun gets an 9 from me. This VN is truly fantastic in my opinion. I have not been interested in a VN in a long time, and Gahkthun honestly surprised me in its quality. This Visual Novel more than deserves all the hype it has accumulated. I am honestly glad that it was my introduction to this "Beautiul" series, and I will not stop here. I hope you too will go get Gahkthun and enjoy it just as much as I did. Trust me, it is really good.

I did, I finally did it. Texas Dice has once and for all proven that he is the master of being objective and leaving the comfort zone. 
Ayakashibito - A tale of Japanese folklore, character development and pointless rape.
This is a really good Visual Novel. I'm not in love with it, but I liked it a lot and enjoyed myself way more than I expected. In fact, I can summarize everything in a few sentences: (spoilers inbound)
I will now answer all and every question @Suzu Fanatic might have. 

Are you implying that Kagome is not deredere?

Stop crying and wait for more Kuki
 

Meanwhile Evolimit is crying in the corner  
 
Mind you, I'm brainwashed into believing anything made by the same dev that spawned Ayakshibito, has to be decent.

I am really hesitant to purchase Gahkthun, MG sells it a very high price without any bonus content or even a mere physical copy but at the same time buying it will help fostering more Liar-Soft in the west. As of now I could totally kill to read Shining Night too. :V
Man, if only JAST had published the VN the price would be justified, I always liked their releases.

Shikomizue we have a draw , SHE ITS THE BEST  .

<Has only finished two or three VNs in his whole life.

*Ahem*
 

Chapters 8 and 9, which I finished earlier this week:
And Chapter 10, which I just finished:
 

Hinaori Kagome.
And who cares about the rest?

Hinaori Kagome.
And who cares about the rest?