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sanahtlig

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  5. sanahtlig
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Fans of my previous safe-for-work blog post, Rogue-like H-RPG Kagura Douchuuki hits Steam Greenlight + First Impression, will be interested to know that I've just released a new and improved NSFW version on ero-gaming news and reviews site LewdGamer.com.
    H-RPG Kagura Douchuuki gets Greenlight for Censorship (Op-Ed) [NSFW]
    The new version includes a completely new section "Steam: An opportunity and a threat to lewd gaming" that demonstrates how Steam is changing the face of professional eroge localization. HCG from the original Japanese title are also displayed (purely to decry the lamentful squandering of art assets, of course).
    It was a pleasure to work with the staff of LewdGamer to bring my article to a wider audience than I could achieve here on my personal blog, and hopefully we'll have opportunity to work together more in the future. Unique among eroge news and reviews sites, LewdGamer caters explicitly to an adult audience. The staff are very passionate about promoting eroge in the West, and I hope I was able to provide useful feedback on their operations, as well as ideas for future coverage. LewdGamer as a site has exploded in popularity recently despite launching mere months ago, so they're definitely a group to keep an eye on.
    Do you prefer safe-for-work or NSFW preview and review articles? Let me know!
  6. sanahtlig
    (An old parody I wrote in 2013, I'm reposting here for general amusement. See the original forum thread for initial reactions.)
     
    Announcer:
    It’s a beautiful day for baseball today in Eroge Stadium. I’m your host Sanahtlig here to provide commentary for Visual Novel Translation TV. Today the Localizers play against the Fan Translators in a special Western League All-Star game. This should be an interesting matchup. On the Localizers team we have representatives from Mangagamer including the rising star Kouryuu, as well as veterans from JAST USA including the well known Peter Payne. The Fan Translators are a truly diverse bunch of big names playing together for the first time ever. We have Ixrec from Amaterasu, Moogy from TLWiki, Haeleth, and Aaeru from Fuwanovel. It’ll be interesting to see how they interact as a team.
     
    The Localizers are up to bat first. But there seems to be a delay. The first batter from Mangagamer appears to have brought a large stick instead of a bat! He seems to be arguing with the umpire. Let’s listen in.
    Umpire: You can’t just waltz in here with a stick for a bat. Go borrow a real bat from one of the JAST players!
    Mangagamer player: ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!
    Umpire: WTF?
     
    Announcer:
    The Mangagamer player just took off and started running the bases before the game even started! What is he doing??? We’ll be back after a word from our sponsors.
     
    [Commercial]
    VNDB, a compendium of visual novel knowledge, by you, for you: an oasis where you can request visual novel recommendations, speak freely, and engage in enlightened discussions. Please click our affiliates so we don't go broke!
     
    5 min later
     
    Announcer:
    We’re back, and this time Peter Payne is up to bat with 1 out and 1 expelled player. Here’s the pitch and—it’s a hit! Wait, what is he doing? He’s just standing there! Let’s zoom in for a closer look.
    On close examination, Peter is actually shuffling towards 1st base so slow it’s barely perceptible from a distance. He makes it a few feet before being tagged out by the catcher.
    That’s two outs folks. Up to bat next is Kouryuu, Mangagamer’s newest darling. Here’s the pitch and—it’s a line drive. This—
    At that moment the microphone fades out. The game ensues soundless until a member from Mangagamer finally strikes out, ending the round.
    We’re back at Eroge Stadium. We apologize for the technical difficulties. A member from Mangagamer barged in and carried off the microphone, claiming we didn’t have rights to broadcast audio during their lineup. We’re assured now that the problem has been cleared up.
     
    The Localizers are taking to the field. Wait, what is this? Mangagamer’s players have taken to the field without clothes! This isn’t baseball, this is pornography! Outrageous! JAST’s entire bench has rushed onto the field to subdue them. They appear to be re-clothing the Mangagamer players—is that 2 bras I see??? We’ll be back after a commercial break.
     
    [Commercial]
    Mangagamer staff A: Somebody set us up the bomb!
    Mangagamer staff B: What you say?!
    *Screen flash and booming sound*
    Pictured is a box set of 3 games, priced at $150. A tag in the corner of the screen reads “no voice”.
    Narrator: Shin Koihime Musou! Otanoshimini!
     
    5 min later
     
    Announcer:
    We’re back and the game looks ready to resume. First up to bat is Haeleth, the oldest member on the team and a true league veteran. He seems to be getting some boos from the audience…hmm? Haeleth just threw down his bat and walked out of the stadium! Amazing! Looks like the Fan Translators are down one member!
    Next up to bat is Moogy. Moogy is known for his often uncomplimentary remarks for his fellow players. Moogy steps up to bat and—he seems to be shouting something at the Fan Translator dug out. He’s throwing down his bat and…he just walked out into the field? He seems to have joined the Localizers! What an unexpected development!
    Next up is Ixrec. This guy is a monster folks; he has the highest RBI in the entire league. Here’s the pitch, and—it’s a hard hit to right field! Peter Payne scrambles for the ball…what is he doing? Is he riding a wheelchair in the grass? Why is he in a wheelchair?! Ixrec scores! And he’s running around the bases again! Look at him go! One of the umpires from the Japanese league, Age, has grabbed Ixrec and is trying to stop him! Oh my, Ixrec just kicked Age in the balls and is running the bases again! Unbelievable! We’ll be back after a commercial break.
     
    [Commercial]
    JAST USA is proud to announce the best hentai dating sim ever, Lightning Warrior Raidy 3! Play the role of a cute swordswoman as she fights creepy tentacle monsters and devilish vixens with her new lesbian fusion powers! Coming to a store near you in 2018!
     
    10 min later
     
    Announcer:
    We’re back. Age has left the game, and I doubt we’ll see him back for another Western League game in the near future. We have a Fan Translator on 1st base from a single up the middle.
    Next up is Aaeru. A relative newcomer, Aaeru doesn’t seem to be getting along too well with her fellow Fan Translators. But in this game it’s results that count, which I’m sure Aaeru will show us today.
    Here comes the pitch…it’s a fast line drive to left field! That’s a base hit! Wait! Aaeru appears to making a beeline for 3rd base! What is she doing?! She’s stopped on 3rd base and doesn’t seem to be budging. It appears that she’s decided to run the bases in reverse order! What are the umpires doing?! The other Fan Translators are snickering, but no one seems to be stopping her. That leaves a player each on 2nd and 3rd base.
    Next up to bat is…Moogy? Did he switch sides again?! It’s probably best not to think too hard about this. Here’s the pitch—and it’s a pop up to right field! Peter goes for the ball—and his wheelchair tips over! The Fan Translators are running the bases and—Aaeru just collided with her fellow Fan Translator! Who would've seen that coming?! She’s getting up, and--
     
    Mangagamer 3rd baseman: ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!
     
    Announcer:
    The Mangagamer 3rd baseman just clubbed her over the head with 3rd base! Ouch! Moogy runs up to her and…he’s kicking her while she’s down! I don’t know who’s the greater bastard: Aaeru, the Mangagamer 3rd baseman, or Moogy! Ixrec runs out of the dugout—he’s running the bases again! Someone catch him! What the hell??? The Mangagamer players are stripping again! Peter is still crawling out in right field towards the ball! This is utter chaos folks! It’s a wacky free-for-all today in Eroge Stadium. I’ve never seen such incredible dysfunction in all my days as an Eroge Stadium broadcaster. Will Moogy stop kicking Aaeru? Will Mangagamer stop turning this into a live porn event? Will Ixrec leave any points for anyone else? Will Peter ever get the damn ball? Stay tuned to Visual Novel Translation TV!
     
    In the meantime, let's get some comments from the stadium audience.
  7. sanahtlig

    About myself

    By sanahtlig,

    Personal blog (Sanahtlig's Corner)
    VNDB profile
    Fuwazette articles
    LewdGamer articles
    I've been into VNs since around 2002, and active in the community since about 2004. I go by various pseudonyms including sanahtlig, Dark_Shiki, and magusgs. Boards I actively follow include Mangagamer, JAST, Fuwanovel, and VNDB. I was also formerly active at NIS America. I've been actively following VN localization for over 10 years, so I've become familiar with business aspects of the market that often elude other fans.
    Over the years I gradually became interested in playing games outside the walled garden of English releases. I enrolled in a year of Japanese courses in 2005 and casually studied the language. I used text hookers to machine translate Japanese VNs, especially RPGs and other gameplay-centric titles. In the past few years I've gradually shifted to using dictionary lookup more often as my knowledge of the language improves and machine translation becomes less attractive as a crutch. Today I remain reliant on text hooking, and I use machine translation as a grammar reference (or when I'm feeling particularly lazy), but my Japanese is good enough that I can often understand written dialogue unaided. With all the tools at my disposal, I'm fairly confident my overall comprehension approaches native level for the games I typically play, even if my reading speed is a bit slower and I don't necessarily understand every word or every phrase.
     
    I play VNs voraciously, though I go through spells where I play 30+ hrs a week, and other times where I'll go months without playing any. These days I mostly play Japanese-language VNs, though I try to sprinkle English VNs in (with auto-mode enabled) to give my hands a rest from scrolling over unfamiliar Japanese phrases and repetitive clicking. I keep my VNDB profile mostly up to date. My focus is eroge with gameplay; I consider myself nearly an expert on this genre and I've played games from most of the major developers. I play eroge almost exclusively because, well, I like my animu ero, even if it's just a scene or two tacked on at the end. I usually shy away from nukige, which tend to bore me, but I play a few. To this day I've completely spurned original English VNs for several reasons: the low production values / severe lack of professional quality releases, lack of Japanese voice acting, lack of ero, and a general disdain for Western cultural and artistic values which often creep in (especially into the ero, if any). I might be persuaded to try one eventually if some or all of those concerns are addressed.
     
    I like to argue and debate, and my forum post history is filled with posts on all sorts of topics including the VN industry, VN piracy, censorship, legal issues and obscenity, and much more. I also post on Fuwanovel's Fuwazette as well as my own personal blog. My tone is often callous but I typically attempt to argue concepts and ideas, not people. My view is that ideas exist to be challenged, and unchallenged ideas lead to complacence and zombie-think: simply echoing what others tell you. Wherever I see complete acceptance of an idea, I see a viewpoint not being considered. True objectivity means openness to new ideas, an ability to see controversies from multiple perspectives and understand how different premises and viewpoints can lead to different conclusions. I pursue truth, and where truth is elusive I seek to approach it through the sum of all valid viewpoints. Even viewpoints that don't hold up to scrutiny often provide a valid insight into the minds of men.
    I write fiction occasionally. My current project is Memory's Wounds.
    I am sanahtlig, and this is my story.
  9. sanahtlig
    Makoto Itou is often vilified as the worst VN protagonist ever. These people clearly haven't played Cross Days.

    VNDB
    Getchu

    Cross Days is a retelling of the events of School Days from the perspective of Yuuki Ashikaga, a boy in the same year as Makoto Itou, the protagonist of School Days. Yuuki is childhood friends with Hikari Kuroda and a member of the library club, and his older sister Chie belongs to the basketball club. Good-natured but indecisive, he often puts the needs of others before his own because he can't muster the courage to say "no". His sister introduces him to Roka Kitsuregawa, whom he quickly develops a crush on. Roka likes him too but misunderstands his relationship with Hikari. Roka tells Yuuki she's going out with Makoto to make Yuuki jealous. Kotonoha, who frequents the library, tells Yuuki she's Makoto's girlfriend, yet Makoto's classmates say he's going out with Sekai. Swept up in romantic intrigue, Yuuki has to figure out how to convince Roka that he's serious about her while getting her to give up on Makoto.

    Much of the plot of Cross Days revolves around romantic misunderstandings, often reinforced and propagated by gossip. Yuuki and Roka are the main couple, while Makoto and Kotonoha are the secondary couple. The way these relationships play out forms the crux of the plot. The story begins with Makoto in a relationship with Sekai, following the route in School Days where Makoto pairs up with Sekai almost from the start. Sekai herself is a minor character.

    Unlike School Days's Makoto, the plot of Cross Days doesn't revolve around the protagonist Yuuki, and this is a core weakness. Yuuki is very much swept up in the events occurring around him, and he is unable to directly solve the problems he's confronted with. Instead, his influence is indirect--he influences other actors who have the power to change events, such as Makoto. Cross Days is as much about the various characters surrounding Yuuki as it is about Yuuki himself, and as a result the experience ends up feeling rather fragmented. Much of the game is spent viewing events from an "outside" perspective other than Yuuki's, really reinforcing the feeling that this isn't Yuuki's story. As a player, I felt alienated by the arbitrary perspective shifts that often had no direct relation to the events surrounding Yuuki.

    This leads to one of the game's main issues: the hopelessly convoluted scenario. The triggers for the various branches in the game's plot are cryptic and difficult to comprehend even in retrospect, much less when you're encountering them for the first time. As a player, you end up feeling very much like Yuuki--lost and fumbling about at random as situations spin out of control in often ludicrous fashion. This is in contrast to School Days, where there was usually a clear connection between Makoto's choices and downstream consequences. The choices in this game left me befuddled, and I ended up using a walkthrough after wandering aimlessly through the scenario a few times and haphazardly hitting the major routes. In some cases, the flow diagram in-game isn't even accurate (i.e., flowing one-way from left to right)--instead you can end up on a route that retraces to an earlier branch point. The scenario was patched to fix some of the divergence issues, but this actually makes the problem even worse because it breaks the earlier fan-made guides. I was unable to get most of the endings in the boys' love route because I couldn't figure out the proper sequence of choices even after trying several different guides.

    The game has many of the same problems as School Days. It crashes/hangs frequently, especially if you scene skip in a scene with a choice. The problem is more acute in Cross Days because there's no "skip to the next choice" feature as there was in School Days HQ. Like School Days, the scenario consists of many puzzle pieces intended to fit together in many different configurations--but not all the configurations tell a cohesive story. Certain paths detour around scenes that are necessary for explaining/instigating downstream events.

    Cross Days features a total of 22 endings (8 are in the BL route, which I haven't fully explored). The endings I saw were all distinct. There's some distinct routes that diverge midway, such as the ones focusing on BL and Ai Yamagata. The actual divergence has nothing to do with these themes however. Sadly many of the endings have no epilogue (especially the ones ending in H-scenes), so there's a nagging lack of closure. Reflecting the overall feel of Cross Days, many of the endings are "bad ends" for Yuuki and Roka.

    The game is hard to evaluate. Despite all the problems, Cross Days captivated me for several days straight. I literally did nothing in my free time except play this game. Roka makes a great main heroine, and her jealousy is positively adorable. Her push-pull relationship with Yuuki is a highlight of the game. I was disappointed however that there was no opportunity to pair up Yuuki with Kotonoha. The setting has incredible detail that emerges when you explore all the different routes, conveying the sense of a truly living world. You end up missing much of the backstory if you only play through to one or two endings. The animation is engaging, with visual cues used to convey information layered on top of the dialogue. There isn't much fluff dialogue that serves no purpose in the story.

    Cross Days is a rare interactive movie VN with a highly dynamic scenario that evolves based on your choices. If that's your cup of tea, there's hardly any alternatives to the School Days series. If you liked School Days, you should give Cross Days a try--but realize that the experience is different. Cross Days was clearly intended to be experienced after School Days, so don't make this your first sampling of the series. If you didn't like School Days, you probably won't like Cross Days, as it sports one of the weakest protagonists I've come across in a VN, and makes Makoto look like Rance by comparison.

    Score: 7/10 (including -1 penalty for crashes and freezes)
    Recommended for fans of series who have already played School Days and Shiny Days and are hungering for more.

    I played this title in Japanese. If you're interested in seeing Cross Days in English, support JAST USA's English releases of School Days HQ and Shiny Days and let JAST know you're interested in Cross Days on their new official forums.
  19. sanahtlig
    Seinarukana is an ambitious visual novel / SRPG hybrid that should appeal to fans of anime-style JRPGs like Ar tonelico and Agarest War.
    In-Depth Review: Seinarukana + Info Hub
    Review highlights:
    Pros:
    Classic JRPG storyline mixing comedy and high fantasy Streamlined battle system with decent depth and no grind Good value even at full price New game + adds replayability  Choose the heroine Nozomu ends up with All major characters except protagonist fully-voiced in Japanese, some good BGMs
    Cons:
    The game is less impressive in 2016 than it was in 2007 Like many JRPGs, the characters and writing lack maturity Stereotypical harem protagonist The gameplay doesn't have the depth, especially in customization, of some mainstream JRPGs Route branches aren't sufficiently different to justify a second playthrough Combat becomes monotonous after a while, especially on subsequent playthroughs
  23. sanahtlig
    VNDB
    DLSite (NSFW)
    Official site
    I came across this Japanese-language title while scrounging around for gameplay titles with defeat rape. I found the concept of defeat NTR intriguing, so I gave the game a spin.
    The game's "prologue" spans almost half the game's length (~20hrs total) , and manages to tell a reasonably interesting tale of a broken nation's struggle against a brutal and militaristic empire. It starts off with a cliched love story between a knight commander (the protagonist) and his foster father's daughter, but it's spiced by twists and turns and political intrigue. The protagonist is cliche to the extreme, but it works because fate isn't always on his side, and his naivety often works to his disadvantage. The characters are mostly standard cookie cutter stereotypes. The plot twists are believable despite the shallow setting and characterization, and these are what keep the story interesting. The prologue also serves as a tutorial for the battle system.
    Once the prologue is over, the map opens up and the player is free to begin conquest, with the eventual goal of toppling the empire. Movement takes place in real time, but combat consists of turn-based one-on-one battles. The combat is fairly simple: the force with a larger army and higher base stats wins. The general can use skills that can affect the course of battle, but simply speaking the side with the most resources to buy soldiers wins (I played on Platinum difficulty). As such, the best strategy is to quickly zerg resources and upgrade your units. For the most part enemies play by the same resource rules, so depriving them of resources early on makes the mid game a bit easier. Clearing the map took me between 10-15 hours.
    If you play your cards right, the hero prevails and ends up with his favored heroine. Let your heroines fall into the hands of the empire, and after a period of time they'll get NTR'd. There's also mini-events sprinkled about like landmines that can get a heroine or two NTR'd if you take a wrong step.
    The story and gameplay are simple but entertaining. For a doujin group, the quality is impressive, but the production values don't match up to heavy hitters like Eushully and Alicesoft. This is a basically a niche title for those who are tickled by the defeat NTR gimmick, and that's the audience this game should satisfy. If you subtract out the abundant avoidable NTR content, the ratio of sexual content is actually quite low.
    The developer Makura Cover Soft is working on a sequel that should be coming out this year, and looks like more of the same but on a bigger scale: more nations, more heroines, and some added systems. I liked how this game took a cliche JRPG plot and mellowed the sickly sweet moe with the threat of bitter NTR, so I'll probably check it out when it's released.
    Score: 7/10 (Good)
    Recommended for fans of simple strategy gameplay who are interested in defeat NTR.
  24. sanahtlig
    So some may have noticed that it's been a while since my last update. Some explanation is in order.
    I was extremely displeased by the shift in policy that banned lolicon (non-explicit images and discussion) from the forums, together with (what I saw as) the suppression of dissent that followed. I saw this as a serious threat to the free exchange of ideas at Fuwanovel, a repudiation of my long-standing crusade to fight moral fanaticism against loli content, and also as an indication that Fuwanovel was trying to distance itself from adult content (similar to Sekai Project)--which was my core interest in visual novels to begin with. I engaged in PM rants with several members of Fuwa leadership, and eventually had a long talk with Tay about my grievances. I finally reached an understanding with Tay: the site policy change would be reviewed at the end of August, and user feedback would be brought to their lawyer with the aim of dialing back the restrictions on lolicon--retaining only the minimum restrictions necessary to protect Fuwanovel legally and commercially.
    As a consequence of this fallout, I began looking for options to create and host content independent from Fuwanovel. I decided to create a "true" personal blog on Google Blogger and start migrating content there.
    http://sanahtlig.blogspot.com/
    Hosting content on sanahtlig.blogspot provides several advantages:
    Freedom to host whatever types of content I'd like without impacting my partners (like Fuwanovel) Greater control over layout and formatting, as well as a more full-featured text editor Full access to stats and analytics (something I've whined to Fuwazette about in the past) New articles I've added to sanahtlig.blogspot in the past month:
    Mangagamer partners with Alicesoft to prevent the Rance series from being released in English Aselia the Eternal 3 teased - in English! Erotic dungeon-crawler Lightning Warrior Raidy 3 strikes English shores Articles significantly updated:
    Why I endorse JAST’s censorship of Shiny Days Let me know what you think of the current layout. I've put a decent amount of effort into making the site functional and visually appealing.
    I still plan to stick around and post on Fuwanovel, and perhaps I'll again ally myself with Fuwanovel should our interests converge once more. As always, I remain open to working with Fuwazette and FuwaReviews. I also continue to work closely with eroge news site LewdGamer.
    I'm still considering what to do with this blog. If there's interest, I could post an update here with a link whenever I add an entry to Google Blogger. I may also continue to host posts rooted in the Fuwanovel community (like A commentary on American exceptionalism) here.
    Also, I did get Tay's permission to host affiliate links on Fuwanovel. In return, I agreed to donate the first $20 of my annual earnings to Fuwanovel. Expect to see a lot fewer VNDB links from me and more links to store pages instead. Store pages for adult products are usually not-safe-for-work. You have been warned.
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