hydro
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Posts posted by hydro
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I'm not sure I've read a VN that was 100% serious all the way through. Of course VNs with some serious content vary in how much comedy they have, Grisaia is loaded with it while something like Sharin has a little less. I think the general structure is some comedy or light hearted moments while you get to know the character/setting before gradually moving into more serious territory. No interesting/thrilling/dark VN story I've read has been "ruined" by having some light hearted moments in the build up.
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I finally started Majikoi A-1. I started Benkei and Sayaka's route, both times I was roadblocked by Miyako "bad" ends. They were actually quite satisfying and dulled my motivation to load it back and and progress properly. I mean I probably will eventually, but the main thing I enjoyed about this VN was just seeing the gang again. I don't really care too much about non Miyako pairings cuz I'm an OTP fag, but I still read most routes because I like the characters and universe as a whole.
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Finished the main story of Kindred Spirits and most of the extra ones. This VN has a really interesting presentation. First you read all of the scenes from MC/Ghosts' perspectives for the month, then after that/before unlocking the next month you read the same/similar scenes from the perspective of the side characters. Then when you finish the VN they add a 3rd layer where they show you extra scenes that may add context that was missing in the main story, but may have disrupted flow/spoiled certain plot points if they were plonked in the main story. It's a very interesting way of going about things, and in a casual Yuri VN of all places. Then again to implement this storytelling method you would need many characters with a suitably large role in the story. Many characters even have scenes from before they were introduced at all in the main story, hence the disrupted flow comment if it wasn't done this way. And since all these pairings have 2 characters with their own thoughts, some of these extra scenes that give insight could be spoiler-y if in the main story.
Especially after reading their extra scenes, I really liked Aki and Youka; both as a pairing and as individual characters.
For a start it was interesting that the "goody two shoes" was more assertive than the "delinquent", and that it was the "delinquent" who was all nervous and fidgety around the "goody two shoes". Of course these are not accurate descriptions of their overall personalities, but these are their general roles that they transcend the cliches of. And they were both likeable and unique in their own right, especially Aki. I would find it hard to pin down a character from any piece of fiction I've seen/read that acted/thought/presented themselves in the same way she did. You could find broad examples, but none would give off the same feel from what I've seen.
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I've still got Grisaia 2/3 + the "OVAs" to read, but long term I definitely plan to check this out. Gonna be hard to match up to the incredible cast of the original series, but hopefully they give it the old college try. It's especially difficult to see Juicy Yuuji being topped personality wise, but I do like this new guy's fabulous character design; generally a fan of guys with long hair. Though when I was scrolling through the thumbnails on their official site I was under the impression there was no male MC due to them all looking like girls.
- Mr Poltroon, Dreamysyu, Dergonu and 1 other
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Been reading Kindred Spirits, first VN in a while. Nice read, all the characters are likable and fun. Main character is thankfully not a blank slate, but rather a cool and fairly unique character with a concrete backstory.
As most of the game is unvoiced, the few voiced scenes can sometimes take me off guard. I kind of just mentally implant my own voices for the chars when reading the majority of scenes, based on their sprite and personality. In many cases it's a little off, and so it's kind of interesting to picture the subtle differences in how I would judge things if the whole game was voiced. It's hard to pick a fav character since everyone is so solid and likable, might actually lean towards Yuna because of how consistently cool she is. But in terms of absolute PEAK it's hard to go past
MAKI SEINA. For most of the game she's pretty mild mannered, always overthinking things and apologizing. Her docile nature is amplified by her short stature and younger age (1st year). Then she overhears a 3rd year talking shit about girl, so she bursts in the classroom, kicks her to the ground, grabs her collar and goes to town on her.
This cute lil' 1st year had the older girl in tears, and the rest of them in stunned silence. It was one of the most satisfying and surprising scenes I've read in a VN, despite the "smaller scale" compared to things like FSN. Maki is fucking metal, don't mess with her Yuri yo.
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Finished Sena and Teacher's route in Noble Works. I only know of one other Short Green Haired Maid in anime/VNs, this girl: http://myanimelist.net/character/38128/Angelina_Nanatsu_Sewell
She was the first thing I thought of when I first saw Sena. And guess what, her VA is in this VN! She doesn't voice many characters, so this is something. I guess she voices Sena then...nope. Ange's VA voices the teacher instead. But Sachi's VA is in this VN as well!
Buuuuut she voices Makoto. All these chances to double up on the meido callously dodged.
Anyways:
SpoilerTeacher's route had one of the most abrupt endings I've ever seen. Basically finished 10 minutes after the common route branch. It seemed especially quick to me as I skipped all repeated common route scenes, so including her unique common route scenes the whole thing couldn't have been longer than an hour. I actually thought I had done something wrong, then I remembered this VN doesn't have bad endings. He didn't even get to tell her he was a body double or anything. Whatever, was nice enough I guess.
Sena's route was mostly expected, I was talking to a friend while reading it and predicted almost everything in advance. But it was pleasant overall. And there were a couple of funny and unexpected moments. Like someone spreading a rumor that MC was banging 3 of the other heroines at once. Also Akari thinking kissing causes pregnancy, and no-one bothering to correct her.
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On 21/1/2016 at 1:59 AM, TexasDice said:
No contest. While asking for the favorite girl is a matter of opinion, the second question is asking something objective. And If I get down to dirty and cold hearted facts, I can't but declare Satsuki for best route. Why? Pretty simple, her route was the only one without glaring issues and was just a perfectly told story.
And I'll always take a simple but perfectly executed script over something ambitious and flawed.
I still haven't read past the common route in this, but I wholeheartedly agree with that line. Since I"m skipping Chisato's I may read Satsuki's first. Will depend on how I feel when the time comes.
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I used to 100% all my VNs. But over time I've lost some of my tolerance for some things, and now pick and choose what to read. With Majikoi specifically I sometimes read part of a route. I love Majikoi's characters and universe, so I'll read part of a route for unique "neutral" content, and then sometimes stop when the romance starts up. I make sure not to miss out on any unique tournaments or fun things like that just because I don't like a pairing. Yamato x Miyako is the only true pairing (the whole 85% business only made their bond stronger), but I still finished most of the others anyway.
I also pick my (projected) fav route first. I take the "save the best for last" approach in several aspects of my life, such as when eating a meal. But with VNs I just lack the patience (plus there are some routes I'd rather not read at all).
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12 hours ago, CeruleanGamer said:
Some Naoe pairings feel forced and have no compatibility like Margit, Rin, and Kokoro. Are these girls than Azumi in that regard who happens to understand Naoe the best because they worked and lived together the longest? @hydro
By circumstantial reasons I mean "personal preferences that have little to do with the character themselves". Sometimes I don't like a pairing because of the character (most tsunderes for example), sometimes I'm fine with the character but dislike the romance for other reasons.
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1 hour ago, Jun Inoue said:
How ironic, since I would say that Azumi is much more similar to Yamato than Sayaka or Benkei.
I can definitely see the argument for this. It's just whenever I saw Yamato with Benkei (frequently) and Sayaka (infrequently) in S, they seemed to "click". Of course in S Benkei was a bro, and Sayaka was "mutually concerned about Yukie"; but I could see both pairings working out.
4 hours ago, TsukiBaka said:Why 0%?
There are just some pairings in Majikoi I have zero interest in. It's not always even down to the character themselves, sometimes it's just circumstantial factors that turn me off.
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There's approximately a 0% chance of me reading Azumi's route. Sayaka's and Benkei's routes are interesting to me though. Both of them are fairly similar to Yamato in their own way.
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I stopped reading this a while ago, mainly because I found Chisato absolutely intolerable. I don't mind this character type when they're a villain, but can't stand them when they're treated as sympathetic protagonists. Also to make things worse, everyone around the MC seems to love her, and chastises him for his completely justified (occasional) dissing of her. Even common route levels of Chisato annoyed me, I can't even fathom reading her dedicated route that will no doubt portray her sympathetically. I've seen it all before. There are other things in this VN I'm not big on, but I can tolerate everything but her. How dare she ruin the childhood friend archetype for me.
So, would I encounter any problems story wise if I skipped her route? Also is there a clear point at which the common route ends and her route begins? Because my last save is in the common route. I'm not sure if the transition is obvious like Grisaia, or more subtle and there's something I need to look out for.
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Alright so now I've finished Shizuru's and Hinata's route in Noble Works. Reading these routes only strengthened my belief that the bromance between Shuri and Takumi is easily the best thing about this VN. I'm so salty Shuri doesn't get more screen-time. Every-time I see him I'm satisfied emotionally, spiritually
and sexually.It's ridiculous how much more likable he is than his sister. The only reason I'd even wanna read Akari's route is if it had a lot of Shuri in it.Anyways, there's one interesting contrast between the Shizuru and Hinata routes that I noticed. Shizuru has a chill grandfather, but hard-ass parents. While Hinata has chill parents, but a hard-ass grandfather.
SpoilerOf course, by the end of both routes things are a little less black and white. I'm happy that neither route dragged on with this "you're too pleb for this Noble family" conflict, it's tedious and one of my least favs. Thankfully the development of the romance was longer than this conflict in both routes.
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Finished Last Resort a while ago. It was alright, art was the nicest thing about it. Wataru still best gril. Also started Koichoco more recently. Not really that big on any of the characters so far, but I'm gonna keep reading anyway.
Finished Majikoi S. 100 % completed. I was afraid after reading Margit's and Kokoro's routes but actually it was very entertaining (thanks to the Tsubame, Koyuki and maybe Monshiro). Having said that, I must admit that that this VN is gangrened by too much fanservice (some H-scenes were nice and/or funny but seriously...TOO MUCH, TOO LONG : more than than 50% of the novel, I think). And, to my mind, a significant part of the story was too rushed, almost botched...In other words, I'm slighly frustrated.
I was outright skipping the H-scenes by the end. I usually just skim through them quickly, but even that wasn't enough. The actual skip function was needed.
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I actually really liked the "Smart guy/strong girl" set up in Majikoi. I would like it less if the main character were totally worthless, but Yamato has brains and a silver tongue which I enjoy in an MC much more then brute strength. Plus Majikoi had a much better supporting male cast than most VNs. Basically, I would like Majikoi a lot less if Yamato was super strong and all the girls around him were the tacticians.
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Michiru is a great character, but I found her route the worst in the VN.
Oh yeah I forgot this before, but I've actually gotten 3 people and counting who hadn't even heard of Grisaia to read it based on the aforementioned screenshots alone. Kinda spammed them into submission. The first two have finished, the 3rd is reading it now and we're talking about it, which reminded me. Not sure I've done that with any other work before, and even if I have it would certainly be one person max per VN/anime/manga.
That's what I need to do to people who haven't read Majikoi or Kara No Shoujo.
Well, I've beat you to the punch with Majikoi come to think of it. Only one for this though, the first person I "encouraged" to start Grisaia.
The process here was less screenshot intensive than Grisaia, but there were still a fair few.
As for Kara no Shoujo, well, I haven't read that myself.
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Oh yeah I forgot this before, but I've actually gotten 3 people and counting who hadn't even heard of Grisaia to read it based on the aforementioned screenshots alone. Kinda spammed them into submission. The first two have finished, the 3rd is reading it now and we're talking about it, which reminded me. Not sure I've done that with any other work before, and even if I have it would certainly be one person max per VN/anime/manga.
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Finished Shiori's route in Koisuru. Probably the most solid of the 3 I've read so far (Shiori, Sango and Rito). They all played out in a broadly similar way, but I found the specifics in this one the most interesting. Decided I will give Umi's route a go. Given the context, I'm expecting it to not follow the same basic pattern as the other 3. Will be interesting to see what differences there are, if any.
Problem getting the Koitate patch to work
in Voluntary Tech Support
Posted
I bought the game off DLsite and installed the game easy enough, no problems starting the game in Japanese. But when I try and apply the patch from here I get this error:
Here's the folder
When I open the application on the bottom it starts the game in Japanese just fine, when I click on "koitate_en.exe" it comes up with the error message from the first picture. I haven't had trouble getting this kind of thing to work in the past, but it has been a while so hopefully I'm just missing something obvious. After extracting the patch .rar file these are the 4 files you get, I just copied them into the same folder I open the game from. I'm not sure if that's the issue or not.