Eclipsed

Okay so, hear me out, there's been a long ass drought of Ace Attorney, and so you should totally checkout Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane. It's a heavily inspired Ace Attorney indie VN that'll make you feel right at home. Kinda pricey at 20 bucks, but you get the standard 5 case Ace Attorney experience with all the fun point and click exploration/investigations and climactic cross examinations with moderatos and allegros and slightly over the top characters you could ask for. And yes Arcane is in the title because there's also magic. Like, this 'dumbass noble mage totally used the magicks to commit this crime' type of magic ^This clown here's Nick- I mean uhh Tyrion Cuthbert (Teer-ee-on? Ty-ry-on? Cooth-bert???). Yo Idk dafuq kinda name the devs were going for, but at least he got the desk slams like Nick. ^This cutie here is Maya Fey. She's a mage named Celeste this time around, and Tyr's actually competent sidekick/bodyguard. Btw Tyr has his own built in Athena Cyke's Mood Matrix via his "Eye of Horus" where he can involuntarily pick up on people's thoughts and emotions (yellow text + purple/blue emojiis above). Kind of makes him overpowered at times with the level of omniscience he can get but it's cool. Not every day you get a protag who can Maximillion Pegasus Millenium Eye these fools ^This hottie's Aria Steelwind. The female Miles Edgeworth I guess. She's cool. Ice princess type. There's also romance, if you care for that LOL! Go play it

Frontwing is totally doubling down on the whole cute young poster heroine in an oceanic setting lol. Finished Ginka and currently reading ATRI "I'm something of a Ginka-lover myself"

Yaho, time for another one of my sporadic shilling of the few VNs that I've read over the past few months. SHINRAI -broken beyond despair- it was an alright Halloween Party murder mystery between 10 middle school friends. What's great about it is that you can have totally logically sound but incorrect deductions at the very end as to who the master mind is and you'll feel like a total dumbass afterwards when the protagonist realizes her mistake. 7/10 "Remember, these are a buncha middle schoolers lol." Fragment's Note+ & Fragment's Note 2+ This was apparently a mobile-VN made 10 years ago, remade for the Switch recently as + versions. Gee, wonder how their sales went lol. Anyways Fragments Note is a standard charamoege high school slice of life, with the twist being that in the first game the protagonist's future daughter travels to his time in order to prevent a tragic fate that would befall him if she were to not intervene. That's pretty much the only thing that kept me interested in this VN, cuz I just can't with HS SoL nowadays lol. 7/10 "Guys I'm not a Lolicon I swear lol, but Miu is just too cute." Fragment's Note 2 is an indirect sequel taking place 1 year later at the same high school, but with a different protagonist. What I found particularly interesting is that this protagonist was only briefly mentioned in the first game, and now he has his own story! Talk about Ascended Extra. I'm a sucker for these types of continuity in stories. Even better, one of the unromanceable heroines from the first game (because plot) is actually romanceable this time around hehehe. Unfortunately, most of the plot is wasted on the protagonist's trauma, because a core theme of this VN is to conquer your inner demons and move on type of deal. 7.5/10 "^This here's Ayame. And hori shi she might just be my most guilty pleasure character ever lol. She's the doting gentle older sister type. Totally gives my pink-haired heroine bias a run for its money" Paranormasight: Hoh boy, if you are ever looking for a supernatural battle of wits murder mystery, look no further. Paranormasight's gotchu covered. Simple premise. 7* Mysteries of Honjo, 7* Curse Bearers with relics/kill methods based on those mysteries, and you're in for a good time. Only gripe is the whole deathnote-style kill or be killed thriller gameplay is literally reserved only for the PROLOGUE, yes only the PROLOGUE, and the rest of the game after that is piecing together the mystery/lore/character motivations and does away with the climactic character confrontations. Also kind of short, clocking in only 10-15 hours. 8/10 "Give me a 30hr VN that's purely more about these type of character confrontations sizing each other up before going for the killing blow and you'd have a masterpiece lol" Yurukill: Four pairs of "Prisoners" and "Executioners" are taken to a 'theme park' Yurukill Land and the winning pair that makes it through all the 'attractions' will get the Prisoner exonerated from their crime, with the Executioner having any wish of theirs granted. This VN seriously doesn't know what it wants to be, murder mystery, escape game, Danganronpa logic puzzles, bullet hell shoot 'em up... it implements all of these mechanics, so like a jack of all trades but master of none. Fun enough though. 7/10 "Totally unrelated comment, but Rina totally looks like someone who would appear in like Fata Morgana or something LOL" Suhoshin: Another short (~5-7hrs) murder mystery VN (see a trend here?) this time taking place in a more medieval setting. Interesting, up until you get to a certain midway point and get one of those infodumps that totally ruins the intrigue because the characters just know too much about what they are dealing with at that point. 7/10 "Oh yes, you'll totally always frustratingly be one step behind the killer lol -_____-" Currently reading: Kunado Kokuki Gee, Purple Software really liked the Kotodama gimmick that they made in Amatsutsumi didn't they >.>. I didn't get very far in Amatsu before I got bored of the high school SoL as usual, but Kunado Kokuki is set in post apocalyptic man vs machine setting and the Kotodama gimmick is quite intriguing there. "And let's be real, Haruhime (center) is a God-tier heroine lol. Ruler of the nation, gorgeous as fuh, and has the same exclusive Kotodama powers as the protagonist. It's a match made in heaven."

I've red a handful of VNs over the past few months but never got around to really doing one of my usual misc. thoughts/comments A Clockwork Ley-Line: good if you're still into SoL high school setting, except make it in a magic school setting. There's not really heavy emphasis on the magic itself ie. no classroom infodumps about magic and/or students learning about magic and battling each other sorcerer vs witches style, just mainly protagonist Koga Michiru and friends from the Bureau of Investigation club running around trying to capture rogue magical artifacts that cause supernatural shenanigans to occur in the school, with an overarching mystery regarding the school itself. Trilogy, so you have plenty of time to get attached to the cast and watch the blossoming romance between Michiru and main heroine Shishigatani Ushio. Now that I think about it, I actually didn't finish this lol, stopped early on in the last episode because life so I'll pick it up #soon. 7/10 "Ya, the Bureau totally works for the sake of the school and aren't a part of any sketchy conspiracies " Corpse Factory: randomly tried this OELVN, yes you read that right OEL, ENGLISH VN, and surprisingly had a pretty good time with it. The English voice cast was decent enough that I actually listened to most of the lines fully instead of my usual half-listen-but-then-move-onto-next-line-before-audio-finishes for regular JVNs. Plot was alright, was mostly intrigued by the characters themselves and how messed up in the head they can be. 8/10. "Yeah... I've never actually watched DEATH NOTE (i know, blasphemy, sue me), but I'd imagine there's some inspiration taken from it..?" Process of Elimination: The Detective Alliance consists of 100 super detectives that have a particular special ability and they are trying to capture "The Quartering Duke" a criminal mastermind who's been on a killing spree. 14 of the detectives get isolated trapped at their very own Detective Alliance Headquarters, murders start happening, and chances are the mastermind is among the 14...Yup it's a Danganronpa offbrand isolated murder mystery setting type with a quirky cast each with specializations, but hey you have technically 14 Ultimate Detectives this time around so how hard could it be to find out who's the mastermind ? The "investigation" and eureka! segments are played out as strategy RPG gameplay where you turn based move characters to points of interest and analyze evidence. Not as flashy as Danganronpa's classroom trials, and overall most of the murders and cases are pretty meh and ultimately the confrontation with the big bad totally falls flat and totally cannot hold a candle to Danganronpa's Hope vs Despair shenanigans, but it was fun enough. 7/10 "^This here's 'Ideal Detective', and yeah, they totally made her such an ideal type lol. Btw the protagonist is known as 'Incompetent Detective'" Umineko: When the Seagulls Cry: Sigh, yes, I finally got around to reading the masterpiece that is Umineko. I red someone say that Umineko's mass 10/10 ratings is from survivor bias- this thing is LONG, like probably the longest VN I've ever read, and took me like 1-1.5months on and off casual reading to take down lol. The 75hr length estimate on VNDB is no joke. And that's just for Ep 1-4, with 5-8 also being another 70+hr estimate!!! And so the people that did manage to finish were the ones that thoroughly enjoyed and thus were able to make it to the end. Umineko's very good. Especially for its time. It's basically a murder mystery with an emphasis on battle of wits on whether it was done via a witch/supernatural or whether everything could be logic'd out and the culprit was human with realistic methods. It unfortunately kinda... devolves and drags later on, but I enjoyed my time with it. 8/10 "^If you don't get absolutely hooked on this VN by the time you reach the end of Episode One and hear this BGM, just drop the VN." Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. Spike Chunsoft's latest Danganronpa x Al: Somnium Files had a baby. Technically not a pure VN since they have enough adventure game aspects so this game got the Zero Time Dilemma treatment on VNDB but yeah. "If you enjoyed Danganronpa's Classroom Trials this game implements some of that, and if you enjoyed Al Somnium Files' quirky female companion or the Somniums this game also implements some of that via Shinigami and the Mystery Labyrinths. Play it."

How the EFF does Witch on the Holy Night on the Switch take up 20GB LOL Its been like 7 years since I’ve read a TYPE-MOON VN (fate/stay) so we’ll see how it goes~

You ever been like, well gee, I blitzed through the entire Ace Attorney Trilogy + 3DSilogy and maybe played the spinoffs like Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright 'cuz you just gotta have some more cross examination funzies and wish they would just release another Ace Attorney by now? Not me Well there's a VN called Ouka Sabaki / Master Magistrate that should give you your courtroom trial VN fix Set in 1850's "Bakumatsu Era" Japan, you play as up and coming Magistrate (last) Ooka Shimei, and you got all the classic Ace Attorney inspired elements: a quirky but well meaning cast and an episodic story that goes in Slice of Life -> Case -> Investigation -> Trial format ^Gal on the left is Rimu, your resident discount Ace Attorney's Maya Fey. Classic genki sidekick support to the protagonist. Broad on the right is Sakura, the classic hardass "Pfft, protagonist is too soft, I could totally do his job 1000x better than him". The courtroom trials don't really play as bombastically as Ace Attorney's iconic Cross-Examination segments but they're passable. In general everything is slightly not as over the top and there are some good moments to be had. As Magistrate, Shimei is Judge Jury and Executioner; there's no back and forth defense lawyer vs prosecutor going on here. ...Did I mention Rimu is best girl? I just love it when VNs take the time to have different hair styles for a heroine. Rimu's hair down is to die for LOL

Felt in the mood to read some trapped VNs, idk why happy holidays Killer Queen - it's a 2006 isolated trapped / killing game ruleset type story. Being 2006 it's one of the earlier attempts at such a genre, and boy does it really show. I totally didn't care for the characters, and the shit that happens was very yawn inducing, nothing special and just drags. Doesn't help that the protagonist is a total pacifist, geebus writers that ain't gonna work in this type of narrative rofl 5/10. There was a remake in 2008 with a bit more moeified artwork and a more fleshed out story (~2-3x the length of the original) but not translated. The Sekimeiya: Spun Glass - Ok so, you want some trapped mystery sci-fi and you've already read all the Root Doubles and Ever17s and Zero Escapes, look no further. This VNs got 8 characters trapped in a gemstone exhibit museum called Ashiya Tower centered around the mysterious gemstone- the Sekimeiya itself- and they'll be in for a world of mindscrews- including you. The blue haired gal above is Shiroya. Best girl of course. Sekimeiya's made by amateur group Trinitite (their Twitter page says "Three people working to create plot-focused visual novels") so it unfortunately means that there's only like 10 CGs in a 25-35hr reading experience, and no voice acting, but other than that this VN is pretty well made. The writing is... very dense, to put it lightly. This is a VN where you can and will easily lose track of wtf is going on simply due to its sci fi mystery nature and so by the end of it when it is truth seeking infodumping time and the VN starts recapping everything and asking you to fill in the blanks it can be very but everything IS technically answered and/or can be deduced. The protagonist himself Atsuki can get very longwinded when something mindscrewy happens and it can be tiresome to listen to his self theory-crafting (which he will do ALOT): 5 minutes later something happens, and then you'll get another wall of text like this, no joke. There is a built in chapter/scene summary where you can input your own notes, an ingame map of the building, and a backlog where you can literally Cntrl-F to search through the text to help you keep track of things, but I just powered through this VN and took the twists and turns as they came without stressing too much being on top of things. You should pretty much be able to theorize the bigger stuff going on, and it's just the little nuances where you'll just have to take the L because yeah like I'm gonna remember what X person did Y time ago after A person did this B time ago etc etc. You only get access to the absolute disgusting mess of a flowchart when you finish the game and I guess want to spend additional time bridging the gaps of whatever you might've missed: ~~ 8/10 Here's my end results lol. They had the gall to have an entire stats thing of what % questions readers got right and whatnot. Pretty interesting stuff though. I got 41/94 (43%), putting me right in the middle of the pack of ~63% of players getting 30-49% of the ?'s right. Top 5% of readers who got 70%+ ?'s right: I call BS LOL they must've used a walkthrough or something!!

Summer Pockets Reflection Blue ...I'll be honest, I'm like, totally a grandpa now and so if I red Summer Pockets like 10 years ago back when I red the other Key SoL funstuff like of Rewrite / Little Busters maybe I would've liked Summer Pockets a bit more and included it in my SoL Hall of Fame, but nowadays it's just not really my cup of tea anymore lol To be fair I didn't make it to the true route/ending to get to the good ol' KEY magic bits but mannn I ran out of steam hardcore after going through the four main heroines and not being interested in the Reflection Blue heroines. I'll check it out sometime later when I'm in the mood for SoL ^...Because I wanna do dirty things to you, Shiroha- I mean uhhh, for safety reasons! But yeah, gorgeous visuals and whatnot, but just not in the mood for slice of life atm ~~ Okay so, Meteor World Actor. I know, wtf is that title right? ^It's a police/crime VN set in a futuristic fictional world that has superpowers and fantasy races like Elves and Segitts. I know, what a weird mix right? The protagonist is (first name) Ruka Hiryu, a detective from the outcast sideliner "13th Division" of the National Police Agency (NPA). He's an antihero type with a bad attitude, slacker work ethic, and pisspoor financials but is competent enough to hold his own when it matters (sometimes) (every now and then) (maybe) ^That's Claris, Ruka's Elven kouhai rookie partner who just joined NPA but got shoved into the troublemaker 13th Division 'cuz she's an elf. Racial discrimination at its finest. Ruka likes to belittle and bully her but as you can see she can be pretty feisty herself. The story plays episodic, which each major case-of-the-week focusing on certain characters/heroines while giving more insight into Ruka's character and his longterm motivations. The cast is diverse and fantastic. Most of the time people are just bagging on Ruka for being a worthless good for nothing detective but there is a good sense of unspoken camaraderie between the cast ^Ruka only lies 125% of the time, nbd It unfortunately ends in a cliffhanger, because eff you that's why, but don't worry, you can read the sequel Badge and Dagger, but that'll also end in a cliffhanger right when they get to the good bits with getting ready to hunt for the big baddie, because again eff you. Except this time the sequel sequel is not out yet sadface

^"If you're not tired of the KEY formula yet, want another dose, but don't have time for behemots such as Clannad or Summer Pockets - go for it" Sold. I already have Loopers on my Switch but haven't gotten around to it; but I'll definitely move it up on my to-do-list ~~ AI: Nirvana Initiative was good. If you liked the general reading experience from The Somnium Files you should be able to enjoy this as well. The Somniums can be solved more logically this time around instead of having to trial and error yolo choosing random actions and hoping for the best so that's a plus. The dual-protagonist system is... unfortunate; splitting screentime between Mizuki and Ryuki definitely imo weakens the both of them than if the VN focused on just one of them. Ryuki was aight, but ngl would've totally preferred Mizuki to be the sole protagonist cuz bias The big twist... was a whole bunch of "...that's it?", especially with how it'll literally, and I mean quite literally, be told to you upfront in plain English handholding spoonfed style after a certain part in the story. It's VERY underwhelming. 8/10. I gave the first game 8.5/10. The first game just keeps you hooked with the always-a-step-behind murder mystery. Second game tries to be grand with the whole Nirvana Initiative plotline and falls flat ~~ Currently reading the most randomest thing ever, Making*Lovers. If you're ever in the mood for a legit dating sim where the narrative is all about a modern day no-relationship-experience whatsoever young adult male protagonist meeting a likewise no-relationship-experience whatsoever heroine by some contrived circumstantial chance, they awkwardly hit it off, but slowly and surely fall in love as they get to know each other and involve in each others' lives, this thing will be quite a treat. No overarching plot or common routes here, the entire focus of this VN will be on the protag and the heroine of your choice's fated encounter and blossoming romance. If you don't got a thing for the sassy just-an-acquaintance from the good ol' college days, ya oughta rethink your life decisions:

Here's a hot take How the hell did Subahibi get an overwhelming majority 9+/10 ratings (avg 8.68) on VNDB? Yeah, sure, innocent lighthearted SoL beginnings turned GOTCHA! pyschological multiple viewpoints wtfmux that rabbit?! delusional EnDSkY savior bonanza But nothing that made me feel like goddamn, this is a 10/10 masterpiece!@#. I gave it a 7/Good. Gets too rapey at times. And Takuji can go suck it. ~~ I feel bad for people who followed 9-Nine since its first episode released in 2017 and had to wait until 2020+ to get the final episode. Idk how episodic releases fare against just making one complete VN, but whatever floats your boat. I got the luxury of finding out about this VN in 2022, so huzzah me, can just marathon the whole thing! 9 9 was fun. It's another modern day high school setting with a dash of the supernatural/superpowers. Good balance of highschool SoL Romance and Supernatural Overarching Plot Build Up to keep things interesting, with 4 Episodes to keep ya busy and add to the superpower lore(each Episode is dedicated to one of the 4 heroines, yee Enforced Route Playthroughs). The payoff when you finally get to Episode 4 is similar to, if not only a fraction of, the payoff you'd get from making the trek from Muv Luv to Muv Luv Alternate. Things can get pretty high stakes and epic, just don't uh, overload. Heh. 7/10 Ep 1-2, 8/10 Ep 3, 9/10 Ep 4. ~~ I was gonna do a misc. thoughts for both Subahibi and 9-Nine, but uhhh I kinda got too lazy, srrz. And I kinda just wanna start reading:

Mbn to be able to re-read VNs; I apparently red Princess Evangile like 6 years ago and gave it a solid 8 and it was definitely at the time one of my favorite charamoeges. Recently I tried re-reading like Little Busters! and Grisaia no Kajitsu, both of which are literally like my second and third VNs, but nope I remember just barely enough that they're both completely a drag for me to even bother continuing Over the past month I finished the otome Bustafellows. I ended up giving it an 8.5/10, so same rating as what I gave for the likes of Code;Realize and CollarxMalice. But I think I enjoyed Bustafellows a bit more than those two, so maybe 8.75/10? LOL But VNDB doesn't allow such a blasphemy partial rating oh wells What makes Bustafellows so stellar is if you particularly enjoy a cast that has superb camaraderie, friendship, familial bond etc with each other. Bustafellows is ALL about that life. The setting of New Sieg (fictional modern US) with its corruption-behind-the-scenes and band of five heroes each having their own place in society + heroine protagonist all living under the same roof banding together to do vigilante work just allows for many funtimes. What a solemn group picture LOL Every Hero route will have the protagonist-heroine Teuta meddle with his private affairs, eventually culminating in them falling in love along with the other Heroes stepping in with the "Yo, we're bro's, let us help you out!" to resolve the conflicts. It's a good way to make use of all the characters without doing the whole out of focus thing. YO, BRO'S BEFORE HO'S Teuta herself is one of the more vibrant heroine-protagonists I've had the pleasure of reading. I don't even remember Ichika's or Cardia's personalities- I think they were stoic and realistic, or whatever genericness that allowed the reader to self-insert better. Teuta's strong willed, positive, and speaks her mind. She's also FULLY VOICED, can you believe that? At first it was off-putting for me- usually I don't like my protagonists voiced because it slows down my reading and whatnot- but at the end of the day having Teuta voiced for Bustafellows with all of her emotions ended up enhancing the narrative experience so much more than if I were to just use whatever headcanon voice I conjured up for her. The romance is exquisite. Teuta conforms to her Hero of choice EXTREMELY well it's almost shocking how "made for each other" Teuta is able to be with each Hero, vs. some other VNs where sometimes you just laugh at how quickly and abruptly some pairings get together. It's probably partly because it was by design here- a majority of the Hero route flags are triggered by a 'personality' test Teuta takes during the common route and so yeah, the pairs do naturally end up having much in common. The sassy and snarky playboy Helvetica The playful self proclaimed "Underworld Boss" Scarecrow The overly stoically logical Mozu The lone wolf badass Shu The charismatic and dependable posterboy Limbo ~~ There's plenty of supporting cast as well that adds to the one-big-happy-family-that-has-each-others'-backs theme. Teuta in particular has two lifelong childhood friends Luka and Adam who will make sporadic appearances throughout your time with Bustafellows and they're always a treat to see because you just know whenever they pop up that they'll take care of Teuta. She really is the central pillar that joins everyone together in this VN. Luka and Adam are probably some of the best side support characters I've had the pleasure of reading. Their "lifelong friend" status really made me appreciate them. And so, you may want to avoid stumbling into some of the bad ends. Overall they're pretty mild, but some can get JARRINGLY dark. Teuta's a great protagonist, and everyone loves her, but she's not invincible SUPER SPOILERS AND PROBABLY NSFW:

Fatal Twelve. It popped up randomly in the Switch store the other day, jeez y'all gotta market better! Fatal Twelve is a, uh... battle of wits style battle royale death game? Except there's no hard violence- no epic Fate/Stay battles to the death. At the other end of the spectrum, there's no glorified verbal debates like Danganronpa's Class Trials. That's probably my biggest first impression disappointment going into this VN lol. The basic premise is that 12 people died, and through an enigmatic process called Divine Selection they are put through a 12 week altered reality where none of them actually died. The goal? To eliminate all other participants via weekly Elections in the Court of Fate. Other than that they are relatively free to do as they please with their newfound time. In order to Elect someone, a participant must have their opponents' 1) Name 2) Cause of Death 3) Life Regret. An eliminated participant will have their death become reality once again, and any physical actions or influence they made between their original death and the current present is erased. The sole survivor of the Divine Selection gets the privilege to defy fate and live on while the rest perish as fate originally intended. The whole process is supervised by none other than Parca, a snarky self proclaimed Goddess of Destiny. Yo you're cute and all, but, I mean, wtf kind of name is Parca? The 12 participants all have different backgrounds and circumstances ranging from mafioso, wealthy businessman, housewife, single old man, smuggler, rich indian prince, female child, and of course, our protagonist, your every day ordinary high school male high school female with a delinquent appearance: Rinka. She really is just a high school kid, as she mainly spends the first half of the Divine Selection just mulling about her school's upcoming culture festival and friendships, with her research into the other participants being limited to really amateur attempts such as trying to Google them on the internet. The adults do all of the heavy lifting, forming alliances and long con betrayals. Who looks more out of place here, the handsome Nigerian Prince or the delinquent schoolgirl lol. The story plays episodic/weekly, with the first few weeks being easily forgetful since they were used to eliminate the fodder cast and establish the mechanics of the Divine Selection as well as give you a feel for how the other participants are going about their days. Might as well have called this VN Fatal Six, since that's when the remaining cast get to have some better interactions and scenarios with each other. As I said earlier, the weekly eliminations in the Court of Fate also leave much to be desired, as those segments really lack any climax feel. No oomph. One person just Elects someone, calls out their name, cause of death, and regret, and that's it. Moving onto the next week. YO I FEEL SAD THAT THE DIVINE SELECTION ELECTION ELIMINATIONS BASICALLY BOIL DOWN TO LIST YOUR OPPONENT'S 1-2-3 LINERS AND NOT HOUR LONG DANGANRONPA CLASS TRIAL SEGMENTS Pretty curious to see how this can end, like if there'll be any jaw dropping twists or if it'll just end straightforwardly. ~~ Another VN err otome that just came out today that I've been waiting for is Bustafellows. For some reason I thought this was made by the same devs IdeaFactory/Otomate who made the blockbusters Code;Realize and CollarXMalice, but apparently not. Still looks like it has the potential to be included in the list of high quality otome VNs that everyone who gets into otomes should read though. You play as Teuta, a cheerful 21yo freelance journalist living in modern fictional U.S. New Sieg. Looking for her next scoop she happened upon one of the heroes, Limbo, a famous skilled arrogant lawyer on the side of justice. Hoping to catch an interview she calls out to him, but much to her shock he just collapses and dies, blood pouring out of his chest. So what does she do? She timeleaps one hour into the past into the body of another in order to warn Limbo about his impending doom. ...Oh yeah, this should be good.

Wait, it's STILL not officially out yet??? I swear at this rate Half Life 3 will come out first

Oh god I think I'm gonna become hella spoiled by Yuzusoft I forgot that they actually put in the effort to change character sprites to go in tandem with what whatever the characters are currently saying. Bless whoever they hired that has enough OCD to take the time to do all of that. It actually makes me want to listen to the entire dialogue rather than doing my whole min/maxing sweetspot reading because it really does amplify the reading experience significantly. ~~ Anyways I ended up going for Riddle Joker, cuz I need me some high school superpowers Friggen' Himawari, bless its the-whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts-cough-Aqua-Best-Girl took a whopping the entirety of Episode One+Two for me to finally settle down and really start enjoying the narrative for what it was, but Riddle Joker was instant hook line and sinker for me and I'm enjoying everything right off the bat. Protagonist is (first) Satoru Arihara, a combat-capable-but-slacking-in-studies realist high school boy and he's part of a secret organization of "Astrals" who seek to use their powers for the greater good, vigilante style. His latest mission: to infiltrate the nation's first prominent Astral education/research facility. He has a younger sister, too. Foster sister. Nanami Arihara. And man, every VN I'm reading lately is making me realize I'm simply the siscon type, godhelpme, Nanami is fantastic. She's the well meaning younger-than-protagonist-but-responsible/mature-enough-that-she-essentially-takes-care-of-him-like-an-older-sister-type, but she's very, very shy/introverted around others and will have her vulnerable moments where she'll call "Satoru-kun" the coveted "Onii-chan" instead. She's also Satoru's partner in crime in the secret organization they're in, so they have that dynamic going on for them as well. Jeez, what more can you ask for in a brother/sister relationship? I'd go straight back to sleep all day errday, just so I could get awakened again and again and again by such a kawaii sister lel. But step aside Nanami, first impression best girl hands down goes to: Ayase Mitsukasa. Anyone who knows me, knows pink is an automatic win, no questions asked. Pink, responsible role model, student council president...all this is about as common and standard as it gets but I shall never tire of it heh. Now, I would've been fine with Ayase as is because I'm ez, but hoh boy this oughta be fun(SLIGHT SPOILERS):

Aaand I feel jipped again LOL I finished Himawari. Asuka's route for me was like An anthill Compared to the Mount Everest that was Aqua. See, there's this enforced playorder thing So the writers know that you know all about the plot shenanigans that Episode One and Two foreshadowed, with Aqua's route being the route of choice to conclude them, so there's no need to regurgitate all that jazz again. So what does that leave for Asuka? Absolutely NOTHING! It's like they ran out of gas. Here I thought there would be one last curveball, an Episode Three, a true end, grand finale, idk, something! But Asuka's route ended up being as standard of a heroine route as one could imagine. Asuka herself is a decent heroine though, I'll honestly just take anyone over Aries, so she was a solid 7/10 enjoyment. Yeah, sure Asuka. What's truly frightening, I'd say, is getting all hyped up after finishing Aqua's route and wondering just what the writers could cook up next, but then you appear with all your mediocrity and make me depressed. ~~ Even Aqua becomes strangely philosophical during Asuka's route: WTH, WDYM AQUA?? YOU AND YOUICHI HAD LIKE THE BEST ROMANCE EVER. ~~ Neglected to do a misc. thoughts/spoilers so I'll do one now. It'll only cover Aqua though LOL Here, have some Techno '48. Though, it should really be renamed into Night of Aquarius or something . This BGM was totally made for her. SUNFLOWER SPOILS ~~ Whew, my fingers are tired. I've been wondering just wtf I could read next, as is the norm when I finish a VN. I kind of want the standard high school romance setting with a pretty cast and SOME plot going on to keep me entertained. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Ah! Yuzusoft. Haven't checked them out since the Noble Works and Dracu Riot! days It's a tossup between Riddle Joker's high school supernatural powers and Senren * Banka's countryside fantasy. I'll end up reading both anyways, Yuzusoft is always yummy, but for now I'll preview both and see which one I wanna read first

Himawari really is a VN that can only be appreciated as a whole, not by the sum of its parts. For some reason it really took me some time (Had to finish both Ep 1 + 2; a week) to get into the "honeymoon" VN reading phase where I spend my days itching to get home so I can read some more. Episode One was (enjoyment factor) a 5/10, a SoL sloggy grind with one of the most meh poster heroines ever via FUKO ISOGAIII Aries, with Ginga's discount S;G Okabe personality running the show not really helping either. Episode Two was a 6/10, intriguing, liked the setting/narrative change, but overall experience ruined by LOLOL YOU THOUGHT AQUA WOULD BE 100% GRISAIA YUUJI COOLIO??!! NAWWOPE!!! Watch her flail around like a headless chicken and get trolololol'd by one sided upside-down-spade shenanigans. Exaggerating, but yeah. Don't fall for the get overhype :)!!!! -> get disappoint :(!!! trap. These two episodes combined however finally set the stage for Aqua's route, and at the end of the day I now appreciate Episode Two because it was what sowed the seeds that ultimately culminated into the rather heartfelt (and delicious!) romance between Youichi and Aqua. 9/10 enjoyment factor. I enjoyed Aqua x Youichi so much, I actually don't want to read the next heroine route (it's an enforced play order). Considering everything that happens in Himawari up to this point, these two MUST be the canonical pairing, right...? The story HAS to be made for them. So why wasn't Aqua's route meant to be played last...? Guess I'll find out.

@Asuka I don't play too many gameplay/rpg VNs, last one I played was like Yumina the Ethereal years ago which had some dungeon crawling bits that I loathed (I just hate dungeon crawlers in general and can't fathom how people find them enjoyable). I guess if you just want the story try looking for a super easy/story mode setting, if not then go look for handholding walkthrough, and lastly screw everything or ggez just gitgud @Vernon hehe, the best thing about Kyou route is how many times you get to hear her classic frustrated "AHH mou!!!" ~~ Finished Episode Two of Himawari ... I feel slightly jipped. They done Aqua dirty here. The entirety of Episode One you are disillusioned into thinking Aqua'd be this enigmatic, cold hardcore badass, which she still is technically, but she was totally someone's private evil fantasy and the amount of times she's put into awkward, vulnerable, outright provocative positions and sheds her tough exterior for the whole lovesick stuttering mess of a damsel in distress routine was downright disappointing. I get it, it's to fulfill whole "cold on the outside, warm on the inside" trope but forgive me if I just wanted a full 100% awesome this time around. Here, I'll do her some justice and hype up what her story should've focused on more of. First, here's a somber space theme: ^It was apparently only 20 sec so I extended it, which holy hell I didn't even notice that during the VN, but apparently most of the BGMs on Blank Note's side were about this length. They're an amateur group, so kudos to them for making a bunch of catchy short themes for this VN. This is Aqua: Naturally, a character of her stature would have the following goodies: See? Pretty interesting sounding stuff right? The times her story focuses on subjects like this, it gets pretty good. BUT WHAT DO WE MOSTLY GET? ~~ Ultimately tbh Episode One and Two were kinda sloggy to go through, I'd say they're both 80% mundane SoL and 20% intriguing backstory/revelations. Episode One gives you the Muv Luv Extra treatment, only there to establish the characters and very sparsely carrot dangle some bigger picture plot shenanigans. Episode Two covers the backstory of said bigger picture shenanigans but through a different perspective and leaves more to be desired as it focused on more... erotic matters. Looks like I don't get instant access to Muv Luv Alternate / Episode Three though: look at this Scene Select; Episode 1 & 2 only cover the first 3 Tabs! Jeez I'm slacking, and there are 8 Tabs wtf. I'm guessing Tabs 4-6 will be heroine specific, cuz I'm currently on Aqua's, and then finally 7-8 will be the finale. I dig it. Feels like a good length. Can always appreciate a VN storywise that does the whole Part 1 - SoL Part 2 - Backstory Part 3 - Finale to get you invested. P.S. Aqua's helpless damsel in distress girliness in Episode Two is forgiven for pre-Episode Three's: That's how you do it. Just make her pure moe as FUH if she's not going to be badass

Sometimes I’m glad I’m an utter filthy casual so I can enjoy a dev’s worst VN of all time Though based on Narcy’s post seems that judgment of Clephy’s was made more based on Island’s sci-fi elements(?) In which, I totally went into Island thinking it’d just be like a Koisuru Natsu no Last Resort except with Grisaia no Kajitsu psychologically troubled heroines and so the sci-fi actually hit me out of nowhere and made me enjoy it so much more, as ‘flawed’ as it might’ve been. As a pure love story, *Mwah*, the tale of SetsunaxRinne is gonna stay with me for a looong time.

@adam good to hear. Umi is already high up in my first impression best girls. Which, jeez, ever since Hoshimemo's Chinami I thought I would never like the younger relative heroine type but lately it looks like thats becoming one of my forbidden yum yums. I still want that character route, as unneeded as it may be, and in general I ended up deciding to wait for Reflection Blue more 'cuz I know I'm gonna feel really ehhhhhhh going through the entirety of vanilla Summer Pockets solely due to Osborne Effect @storm Hoh... I looked at the VNDB tags of Summer Pockets. And Nakige is apparently one of them ;-; ~~ I finished "Episode One" of Himawari; apparently the VN is broken into multiple episodes, dunno how many. First, I get to nitpick the scenario writer who did Himawari and Island. Even though technically these two VNs are almost a decade apart, old habits die hard I guess and they do the same destiny-like "yo this girl looks so damn familiar, just who is she?!" meeting l0l Oh god please don't let her end up being what Rinne ended up being LOL We have amnesiac high school male protagonist with a passion for space Youichi meet fellow amnesiac Aries after she crash landed into the area via UFO, prompting Youichi and his bromate Ginga, president of the school Space Club (complete with S;G Okabe chuuni personality), to start pondering about all sorts of wild theories as to her origin and purpose. Is she an alien? Are MIBs going to show up eventually to cover things up? For the meantime, Youichi decides to shelter Aries. Aries turns out to be surprisingly normal and not alien- she's innocent, naive, childlike. The days go by peacefully... Y'know, sometimes I laugh at how in the VN realms, characters spend only like a few days or like a week together and all of a sudden that's enough for them to act like they've known each other for entire lifetimes >.> And then, an actual MIB- or should I say, WIB, appears! Just who is Aries, really? Aqua's hawt. Even better? She's voiced by the same VA as ISLAND's Rinne- Yukari, who has been my flavor of the month guilty pleasure nowadays. Even better? In Episode Two of Himawari she- Space (and sunflowers) is the highlight topic of choice in this VN, and Youichi's dream is to make it to the moon. There was an unfortunate rocket launch accident that happened in the town 2 years ago, and this incident is treated as the crux of all issues- it's the source of Youichi's amnesia, which will probably lead into more GOTCHA! revelations regarding Youichi, Aries, and the town's past. Btw, I'm getting a nasty case of the "it's a small world", cuz like I just went through CLANNAD recently, and Aries is flippin' voiced by the same VA as FUKO ISOGAIIIII. GODDAMIT. CAN'T TAKE HER SERIOUSLY NOW. Guess that VA is the go to for childlike heroines. And another jab at creator's stagnating creativity: Aqua and Karin are clones

Ok so Y'know how I'm high off the CLANNAD hype train what with spending a month reading the VN and then watching the anime (which btw, I'd vouch for Tiago's "just watch the anime" if you just want to experience the story that is CLANNAD because, yes, the anime is imo the "definitive" edition of CLANNAD and is easily 9+/10 compared to the 8/10 I gave the VN simply because instead of doing the usual "trololol anime is too rushed, trying to condense a 30+hr VN into 12 episodes ggez RIP," they actually manage to condense the BEST parts of CLANNAD and cut out all the fluff; like I said, I spent a MONTH reading the VN which was a slogging, isolated behemoth and the anime cuts out that slogginess while capturing all the main story beats wonderfully and involving the cast more often in the story). Not to say I regretted reading the VN; I'm the type who loves reading the VN and then watching the anime to see everything animated. And I may have enjoyed the anime even more because of having read the VN first and being able to see everything they did right. But I digress. I needed more Key, so I was about to yolo-screw-waiting-for-Reflection-Blue,-it's-just-four-extra-heroine-routes-and-I-definitely-skipped-like-half-the-heroines-in-CLANNAD-wcgw- and dive into Summer Pockets, but then I ran into: Umi. This ISLAND Rinne clone complete with a sailor hat is quite the cutie, has pink hair, BUT SHE ONLY GETS A ROUTE IN REFLECTION BLUE?!@# FK ME Still tempted to just yolo read vanilla Summer Pockets, but goddamn why did Key have to shoot themselves in the foot by releasing a 'definitive' version of Summer Pockets, thus making everyone do the whole "Oh, don't need to buy base Summer Pockets then, just wait for Reflection Blue!!" ~~ Blah...I'll wait. I'm not really the type to double back for extra content, so if I read SP now, there'll be like 0% chance for me to bother with RB. I think I'm gonna check out Himawari: The Sunflower. It's another Frontwing thingy with the same scenario writer who did ISLAND, and we got the same amnesiac protagonist, multiple route mystery, science fiction tags... Err, I hope it's not TOO similar l0l. Sidenote: jfc Naruto just had to grow up and and have a daughter named Himawari and so she litters the search results page -.-

@poltroon Yeah, that's totally my impression I got from just watching ep1 of CLANNAD- that it was able to condense the best parts. Cuz the VN really drags at times. Err, a lot of times, actually. Really looking forward to banding together the cast. The isolated thing really irked me and was probably what made me gave the VN an 8 lol @Bredan np, glad you enjoy reading them. They do take some time to create but overall I enjoy making them. It's one of the best ways for me to get closure on a VN before I go into post read depression

I also tried my hardest... not to cry ;-; ~~ Missed opportunity btw not having Town, Flow of Time, People as the VN's title theme btw. I would've always looked forward to booting up CLANNAD if I had this boppin' theme to listen to: First thing's first: my original statement of being a seasoned veteran and not knowing how CLANNAD garnered 9+/10s ultimately held true for me. I give it an 8. LOL PLEASE DON'T SHOOT ME, DON'T WORRY, 8 ON VNDB = VERY GOOD! AND CLANNAD IS VERY GOOD!!! SoL is just not my thing anymore. Totally for the record though, if I read this say, 5 years ago, I definitely would've given it an instant 9.5+/10 and slap it in my hall of fame in a heartbeat. I'm just old nowadays. CLANNAD is a story about a high school male protagonist, Tomoya, who was raised by a single failure of a father. He attends one of the most prestigious schools in the town, Hikarizaka, due to his exemplary basketball skills. Unfortunately, due to a scuffle with his father one day, Tomoya ends up injured and loses his ability to lift his right shoulder, forcing him to quit basketball. Losing his way in life, time stagnates for Tomoya as he goes about his days meandering without purpose, becoming labelled a delinquent by his peers in the process. Until one fateful day where he meets a girl underneath the sakura blossom trees... *Checks VNDB* jeezus christmas my synopsis sucks LOL But yeah, this VN is essentially 100% pure SoL about a high school delinquent boy going about his days, trying to find his way in life. If you come here expecting late game Little Busters Key Magic Tragics or Rewrite uber narrative shifts I'm sorry to say you'll be disappointed; late game for CLANNAD is simply high school delinquent transitioning to post high school life and dealing with the trials that await. Coming of age slice of life is the name of the game here, and CLANNAD is probably one of the best in the business for this type of narrative. So make sure you're in the mood for this before you spend an extended amount of time on this like me (cough 1 month; my first save file is literally May 18 and today is June 17 ggez) That being said, finally time to talk about Absolute Spoilers: ~~ I'm totally gonna watch the anime next, and I'll update this post on my thoughts on whether newcomers who are thinking of getting into CLANNAD should read the VN or just watch the anime. I did watch the first episode though, and as someone who spent a month reading CLANNAD, I can already tell it's gonna be INSANELY good. All of the character introductions are ON POINT, everything from Tomoya x Nagisa's fated encounter; Ryou's clumsy shuffling fortune cards; Kyou's uber powerful dictionary throwing prowess; Tomoyo's ass kicking badassery; Tomoya x Sunohara's ridiculous bromance; even Sanae's "my bread is only good for... x" QQ.. Everything is EXACTLY as I would've imagined it to be animated. The animated world bustling with people feels alive compared to the limited 200X VN sprites. They even use the VN BGMs, same VN title OP song for the anime OP, and Nagisa's theme from the VN gets lyrics and becomes a flippin' Dango song for the anime ED. The heart and soul of VN CLANNAD is there in the anime. Oh, and Tomoya sounds hawt voiced. It totally makes sense why all the heroines fell for him now

Nagisa Furukawa ^Miss little CLANNAD poster heroine in her prime right here, making everybody proudz :') I've been slogging through CLANNAD for several weeks now, and it's only during Nagisa's route that they finally officially dump the OP on you, so saving her route for last I was like l0l really?? Her route though was... surprisingly average; not much to say. Nothing special or out of this world happens. But at least Nagisa in general finally grew on me. I disliked her meek softspoken personality at first but she becomes less reserved and speaks her mind more often later on while maintaining that same slow, gentle demeanor. Very wholesome to be around. ...Which is why it is absolutely hilarious that Tomoya pervs out on her at the randomest moments. He's a pretty reserved protagonist overall in that aspect, so I just burst out laughing here: Really, Tomoya?? You're with one of the more wholesome heroines and this is what you scheme?! Out of all heroines I'd rank the route quality Kotomi > Tomoyo > Nagisa >= Fuko >= Kyou/Ryou > Others Speaking of the others, sorry I ran out of gas and had to speedrun Misae, and literally Ctrl-skipped skimmed through Kappei. Just gib me them lights! ~~ And so... I've finally reached Awesome Stuff. Wish me luck.

Kotomi Ichinose I'll be honest. Of all heroines in the history of heroines for me, I think Kotomi gave me the worst first impression ever. But she grew on me fast, and her route's GOOD! Here we have this enigmatic girl who you'll only happen to meet if you decide to skip class and wander into the library. Btw, someone at Key must've had a foot fetish, because the writing absolutely had to point out all the damn time whenever Kotomi would take off her socks and go barefoot whenever she sets up camp in the library l0l. For some reason this gal reads through books at lightning speed, occasionally taking out some scissors to snip out some pages. Just wtf is she doing...? ~~ Tomoyo Sakagami Aha, it's first impression best girl time. Former delinquent student turned model student Tomoyo meets former model student turned delinquent Tomoya. Confused? It's k, just swap your (A)pples with your (O)ranges and you're good. I don't know what Tomoyo or Tomoya mean in Japanese but I'm surprised noone really comments on their names being so close. Well, other than Bro Sunohara who calls the two the Tomo duo. Tomoyo's a great heroine. You know how Tomoya with all these blind choices kinda gets to choose which heroine he gets to harass until he finally enters her route in which he'll then go out of his way to meddle with said heroine's affairs? With Tomoyo it's the opposite- once you enter her route, SHE'LL go out of her way to meddle with HIS affairs. Which involves Step1: Waking him up so he can go to school on time. Nagisa, Tomoyo, Kyou, Ryou, Kotomine, Fuko, Mei. I'm lowkey running out of gas, but will keep chugging along.

Ah, CLANNAD being a "hunting VN" Tiago mentioned makes sense, along with his recommendation to just watch the anime. There's a lot of fluff to the VN in general, and the gamey route trial and error yo-if-you-got-nothing-else-better-to-do,-especially-back-in-200X,-then-you-might-as-well-just-grind-this-VN doesn't really hold up by today's standards. Ryou+Kyou's routes actually highlight the hunting-ness of this VN quite well. I spent the longest time ever trying to get Kyou's end. Ryou's was easy enough, because Kyou literally spoonfeeds you everything and if turns out you gots the hots for Ryou you can climax so quick it feels anticlimactic. WAIT, REMOVE THE R, I WANT TO PAIR UP WITH YOU, NOT RYOU!! ...But should you listen to your heart and lust for Kyou during the Pairing You Up with Ryou Plan... ~~ Yukine Miyazawa. Who the heck is this nice girl, just chilling around the Reference Room like a side character but actually having a dedicated route if you harass her enough?? She totally is a symptom of VNs trying to bump up their route/heroine count back in the day! Yes. The other day I tried to get together with this girl- Kyou, but it turns out she was trying to get me together with her twin sister, Ryou, and then there was this rodent whose problems completely overshadowed my relationship with Nagisa... But she's nice enough. Apparently she's so nice, she has amassed a sort of following- a bunch of well-meaning delinquents who would come visit her in the Reference Room every now and then to just vent about their problems while she would just stand there and listen. Tomoya also gets enthralled by her pleasant charms, and finds himself coming to visit her more and more... ~~ Mei Sunohara. Huh? Sunohara?! -SHUTS THE DOOR- NOPE. I'M TURNING OFF THE VN NOW. ANYTHING SUNOHARA-RELATED BY DEFAULT MUST BE TOXIC- Huh? You're telling me you have the same VA as Rinne from Island? NICE TO MEET YOU!! This is the writers' "Hey let us finally make you appreciate the bro side character" route where they bring out the big guns and throw in his kawaii little sister where you're like, there's no way these two are related! The lengths Mei goes to to bring Youhei back to his glory days was touching. ~~ Idk all the available routes, but uhhh Nagisa, Tomoyo, Kyou, Ryou, Kotomine, Fuko, Mei. Probably gonna try to do Kotomine->Tomoyo->Nagisa. Overall VN's looking really subpar-average, I still can't fathom just wtf can happen come lategame to 9+/10 tier this.