sanahtlig

This is a response to a comment from Tay (which I suspect has ulterior motives).
 
Eroge, as told through the visual novel medium, fill a void in my life. I'm well past college age, yet I've never touched a girl romantically, much less kissed or dated. You might say I'm starved for romance, yet I have little interest in dating. I could go into detail, but I'm not that interested in discussing my personal life publicly or privately. I'm going through changes in my life that might very well change my outlook, but this is how I've lived my adult life until now.
 
Suffice to say, I find anime-style heroines attractive, and I crave sexual and romantic fulfillment. Nukige don't typically do it for me because I want to be emotionally moved. I need drama. I need context. I need to immerse myself in a fictional world. Non-ero VNs don't do it for me because they lack sexual content, which is a large part of the draw for me, even if it's a small part of the overall package. Before I was into eroge I was into RPGs, fantasy novels, and anime, so story-driven eroge were a natural evolution of my interests.
 
I suspect this isn't the response Tay was looking for. "Join Fuwanovel and enjoy sexual fulfillment!" doesn't make a great tagline, after all. It might also invite unwanted attention from authorities.
 
I'm interested in the eroge industry (eroge account for ~90% of PC VNs originating in Japan), especially the English side, because it's such a fascinating niche. The market dynamics are completely unique. The stigma of porn hamstrings the market, preventing exposure through traditional channels. Cheap low-budget games often turn the most volume and yield the most profit: mediocrity reigns supreme. Most Japanese eroge publishers simply refuse to deal with English licensors, for a variety of business and cultural reasons. The fanbase is small but extremely vocal; it's possible to keep up with all major developments and voices in the community simply by following a few forums. Despite the tiny size of the English market, piracy is rampant and has threatened to completely annihilate the industry at several points. For every eroge customer there's probably 9 "fans" who've never bought an eroge, or who buy only when they can't get what they want for free. The market is so exquisitely fucked up that watching it inspires the sort of morbid fascination of observing a train wreck in progress. And then there's all the *unique* personalities that such a niche invariably draws.
 
Shameless plug: Those interested in seeing the world through my eyes might want to give my novella in progress Memory's Wounds a try.

Peter Payne, owner of VN publisher JAST and the J-List empire, made the following comment in their official forums:

JAST's experience with RPGs

JAST has released several RPGs over the years, including the Raidy series, Brave Soul, Aselia the Eternal, and most recently Yumina the Ethereal. JAST has said hinted before that the Raidy series did very well for them, and they seemed quite eager to work on Raidy 3, so I'd infer that it's not included in this assessment. Brave Soul was heavily pirated, as evidenced by the repetitive posts in the old forums asking how to save (which was explicitly outlined in the short paper manual that came with the game). The release of Aselia the Eternal was mired by issues, including a widely available fan translation patch, JAST's decision not to release a version with the original 18+ content due to concerns about the sexual portrayal of children, failure to pursue a Steam release, and the fact that by the time JAST got around to releasing it 8 years had passed and the game's graphics (640x480) and battle system were horribly dated. I previously discussed how Yumina the Ethereal's marketing was poorly handled, although eventually they did release a playable trial at least. Since Brave Soul was released 12 years ago and Aselia the Eternal probably didn't cost much to localize due to the existing fan patch (JAST worked with the same group for the official release), I presume JAST's statement is based largely on Yumina the Ethereal's sales.

Seinarukana: JAST's most ambitious RPG license to date

Synopsis

Seinarukana follows the dimension-traveling adventures of Nozomu and his band of friends. The story opens in a typical high school in Japan. Nozomu's everyday life is shattered when the school is suddenly attacked by strange invaders from another world wielding medieval weapons and fantastic magics. Amidst the chaos he and others awake to supernatural powers that had long lied dormant--powers inherited from a previous life. When the dust settles the entire campus has dimension shifted, and the students find themselves stranded in an alien world. While at first Nozomu and his friends simply seek to return to their world, they gradually become entangled in a dimension-spanning intrigue that threatens the entire multiverse. In the process, they discover the nature of their powers, and memories of their former lives begin to awaken.

Story and gameplay

The premise is reminiscent of its prequel Aselia the Eternal, though it has lighthearted school comedy elements that more resemble spiritual successor Yumina the Ethereal. The gameplay system is an evolution of the strategic overland map movement and tactical combat found in Aselia the Eternal, streamlining leveling, adding greater complexity in the form of separate physical defense and magical defense, and introducing a large cast of playable characters with unique skills. Skills are awarded as map completion objectives, with faster and more complete conquest rewarded with rare and powerful skills, giving players incentive to master the gameplay. You can see screenshots of the gameplay on its VNDB page.

Evaluation

I've played through the entire game, and the gameplay is a blast. The story mixes typical high school comedy with a fascinating sci-fi / fantasy setting, but the blend is smoother and more convincing than Yumina the Ethereal, with the plot and setting gradually introduced rather than dropped in your lap halfway through like with Yumina. Unlike Yumina, there's no grind or random encounters, which I appreciate. Seinarukana is currently rated 8.4/10 with 151 votes on VNDB, ranking it #3 in untranslated RPGs below Eushully's epics Ikusa Megami Zero and Ikusa Megami Verita.

English Release

Insider information suggests Seinarukana is planned for a 2015 release, likely timed to coincide with Anime Expo in early July. Unfortunately, JAST appears to be heading for a repeat of the mistakes they made with Yumina the Ethereal: taking a high-caliber RPG, hurling it at fans, then expecting the game to market itself.

RPGs require special marketing at a different audience

Ask existing VN fans (JAST's typical customers) to buy an RPG, and they're going to whine that there's gameplay getting in the way of their story. RPG fans don't necessarily frequent VN sites, because they don't like VNs especially--they like RPGs. On top of that, when RPG fans are looking for RPGs to buy, they're looking for promotional materials that highlight the gameplay: gameplay screenshots, gameplay videos, and playable demos.

Reviews are important

RPG fans tend to read reviews before they buy, which means RPG review sites need to be engaged and persuaded to review these games. I never saw any reviews of Yumina the Ethereal on RPG sites, which was probably the #1 reason it didn't do as well as JAST had hoped. There's a huge potential audience for VN-style RPGs with strong gameplay, but it's going to take more effort to tap than JAST is probably used to. But if they're going spend the considerable resources to license a long high-caliber RPG like Seinarukana...why wouldn't they market it the best they could?

Seinarukana is a Steam dream come true

Seinarukana has to be released on Steam. Absolutely. Positively. If the game can be listed on Steam, priced affordably, and it gets noticed--the game will sell like hotcakes. I've played Seinarukana, and the gameplay is a blast. Steam users will eat it up. Censoring the H-content in Seinarukana will be no issue because there's hardly any to begin with. And with a censored version, sites like RPGFan and RPGamer should be willing to review the game, which will multiply sales. Getting these sites review copies before release, to boost pre-release hype, is a key aspect of proper marketing!

My message to JAST

Disappointing sales of your RPGs is your own fault. You're dropping the ball. Put some effort into the marketing this time around and you'll get results! You have talented people working for you on Seinarukana that know what it takes to market RPGs. Talk to them! Throw money at them and give them the authority to do what it takes to make this release successful!

My message to readers

It's outside the scope of this article to convince you that Seinarukana is awesome. You'll just have to take make word for it. Regardless if you agree, if you care about visual novel style RPGs then I have a message for you: JAST needs your help. They're at a fork in the road where they're debating if high quality RPGs are worth the effort of releasing. They don't realize they're sitting on a gold mine; all they see is a caved-in tunnel that is taking forever to clear. And if they don't dig down, they'll never realize it.

I want YOU, the RPG fans, to help me tell JAST what they're doing wrong. Here's a pre-release thread for Seinarukana on the JAST official forums. Tell them what they need to do to reach RPG fans like you and me and make Seinarukana and future awesome RPGs a success. Do you want to see shining gems like Eushully's Ikusa Megami Verita in English? First we have to convince Japanese developers like Eushully that there's a market for these games in English, and we have to convince localization companies like JAST that translating a 100hr epic like that isn't going to bankrupt them.

I leave the sword in your hands, RPG fans.

Peter Payne, owner of VN publisher JAST and the J-List empire, made the following comment in their official forums:

JAST's experience with RPGs

JAST has released several RPGs over the years, including the Raidy series, Brave Soul, Aselia the Eternal, and most recently Yumina the Ethereal. JAST has said hinted before that the Raidy series did very well for them, and they seemed quite eager to work on Raidy 3, so I'd infer that it's not included in this assessment. Brave Soul was heavily pirated, as evidenced by the repetitive posts in the old forums asking how to save (which was explicitly outlined in the short paper manual that came with the game). The release of Aselia the Eternal was mired by issues, including a widely available fan translation patch, JAST's decision not to release a version with the original 18+ content due to concerns about the sexual portrayal of children, failure to pursue a Steam release, and the fact that by the time JAST got around to releasing it 8 years had passed and the game's graphics (640x480) and battle system were horribly dated. I previously discussed how Yumina the Ethereal's marketing was poorly handled, although eventually they did release a playable trial at least. Since Brave Soul was released 12 years ago and Aselia the Eternal probably didn't cost much to localize due to the existing fan patch (JAST worked with the same group for the official release), I presume JAST's statement is based largely on Yumina the Ethereal's sales.

Seinarukana: JAST's most ambitious RPG license to date

Synopsis

Seinarukana follows the dimension-traveling adventures of Nozomu and his band of friends. The story opens in a typical high school in Japan. Nozomu's everyday life is shattered when the school is suddenly attacked by strange invaders from another world wielding medieval weapons and fantastic magics. Amidst the chaos he and others awake to supernatural powers that had long lied dormant--powers inherited from a previous life. When the dust settles the entire campus has dimension shifted, and the students find themselves stranded in an alien world. While at first Nozomu and his friends simply seek to return to their world, they gradually become entangled in a dimension-spanning intrigue that threatens the entire multiverse. In the process, they discover the nature of their powers, and memories of their former lives begin to awaken.

Story and gameplay

The premise is reminiscent of its prequel Aselia the Eternal, though it has lighthearted school comedy elements that more resemble spiritual successor Yumina the Ethereal. The gameplay system is an evolution of the strategic overland map movement and tactical combat found in Aselia the Eternal, streamlining leveling, adding greater complexity in the form of separate physical defense and magical defense, and introducing a large cast of playable characters with unique skills. Skills are awarded as map completion objectives, with faster and more complete conquest rewarded with rare and powerful skills, giving players incentive to master the gameplay. You can see screenshots of the gameplay on its VNDB page.

Evaluation

I've played through the entire game, and the gameplay is a blast. The story mixes typical high school comedy with a fascinating sci-fi / fantasy setting, but the blend is smoother and more convincing than Yumina the Ethereal, with the plot and setting gradually introduced rather than dropped in your lap halfway through like with Yumina. Unlike Yumina, there's no grind or random encounters, which I appreciate. Seinarukana is currently rated 8.4/10 with 151 votes on VNDB, ranking it #3 in untranslated RPGs below Eushully's epics Ikusa Megami Zero and Ikusa Megami Verita.

English Release

Insider information suggests Seinarukana is planned for a 2015 release, likely timed to coincide with Anime Expo in early July. Unfortunately, JAST appears to be heading for a repeat of the mistakes they made with Yumina the Ethereal: taking a high-caliber RPG, hurling it at fans, then expecting the game to market itself.

RPGs require special marketing at a different audience

Ask existing VN fans (JAST's typical customers) to buy an RPG, and they're going to whine that there's gameplay getting in the way of their story. RPG fans don't necessarily frequent VN sites, because they don't like VNs especially--they like RPGs. On top of that, when RPG fans are looking for RPGs to buy, they're looking for promotional materials that highlight the gameplay: gameplay screenshots, gameplay videos, and playable demos.

Reviews are important

RPG fans tend to read reviews before they buy, which means RPG review sites need to be engaged and persuaded to review these games. I never saw any reviews of Yumina the Ethereal on RPG sites, which was probably the #1 reason it didn't do as well as JAST had hoped. There's a huge potential audience for VN-style RPGs with strong gameplay, but it's going to take more effort to tap than JAST is probably used to. But if they're going spend the considerable resources to license a long high-caliber RPG like Seinarukana...why wouldn't they market it the best they could?

Seinarukana is a Steam dream come true

Seinarukana has to be released on Steam. Absolutely. Positively. If the game can be listed on Steam, priced affordably, and it gets noticed--the game will sell like hotcakes. I've played Seinarukana, and the gameplay is a blast. Steam users will eat it up. Censoring the H-content in Seinarukana will be no issue because there's hardly any to begin with. And with a censored version, sites like RPGFan and RPGamer should be willing to review the game, which will multiply sales. Getting these sites review copies before release, to boost pre-release hype, is a key aspect of proper marketing!

My message to JAST

Disappointing sales of your RPGs is your own fault. You're dropping the ball. Put some effort into the marketing this time around and you'll get results! You have talented people working for you on Seinarukana that know what it takes to market RPGs. Talk to them! Throw money at them and give them the authority to do what it takes to make this release successful!

My message to readers

It's outside the scope of this article to convince you that Seinarukana is awesome. You'll just have to take make word for it. Regardless if you agree, if you care about visual novel style RPGs then I have a message for you: JAST needs your help. They're at a fork in the road where they're debating if high quality RPGs are worth the effort of releasing. They don't realize they're sitting on a gold mine; all they see is a caved-in tunnel that is taking forever to clear. And if they don't dig down, they'll never realize it.

I want YOU, the RPG fans, to help me tell JAST what they're doing wrong. Here's a pre-release thread for Seinarukana on the JAST official forums. Tell them what they need to do to reach RPG fans like you and me and make Seinarukana and future awesome RPGs a success. Do you want to see shining gems like Eushully's Ikusa Megami Verita in English? First we have to convince Japanese developers like Eushully that there's a market for these games in English, and we have to convince localization companies like JAST that translating a 100hr epic like that isn't going to bankrupt them.

I leave the sword in your hands, RPG fans.

Peter Payne, owner of VN publisher JAST and the J-List empire, made the following comment in their official forums:

JAST's experience with RPGs

JAST has released several RPGs over the years, including the Raidy series, Brave Soul, Aselia the Eternal, and most recently Yumina the Ethereal. JAST has said hinted before that the Raidy series did very well for them, and they seemed quite eager to work on Raidy 3, so I'd infer that it's not included in this assessment. Brave Soul was heavily pirated, as evidenced by the repetitive posts in the old forums asking how to save (which was explicitly outlined in the short paper manual that came with the game). The release of Aselia the Eternal was mired by issues, including a widely available fan translation patch, JAST's decision not to release a version with the original 18+ content due to concerns about the sexual portrayal of children, failure to pursue a Steam release, and the fact that by the time JAST got around to releasing it 8 years had passed and the game's graphics (640x480) and battle system were horribly dated. I previously discussed how Yumina the Ethereal's marketing was poorly handled, although eventually they did release a playable trial at least. Since Brave Soul was released 12 years ago and Aselia the Eternal probably didn't cost much to localize due to the existing fan patch (JAST worked with the same group for the official release), I presume JAST's statement is based largely on Yumina the Ethereal's sales.

Seinarukana: JAST's most ambitious RPG license to date

Synopsis

Seinarukana follows the dimension-traveling adventures of Nozomu and his band of friends. The story opens in a typical high school in Japan. Nozomu's everyday life is shattered when the school is suddenly attacked by strange invaders from another world wielding medieval weapons and fantastic magics. Amidst the chaos he and others awake to supernatural powers that had long lied dormant--powers inherited from a previous life. When the dust settles the entire campus has dimension shifted, and the students find themselves stranded in an alien world. While at first Nozomu and his friends simply seek to return to their world, they gradually become entangled in a dimension-spanning intrigue that threatens the entire multiverse. In the process, they discover the nature of their powers, and memories of their former lives begin to awaken.

Story and gameplay

The premise is reminiscent of its prequel Aselia the Eternal, though it has lighthearted school comedy elements that more resemble spiritual successor Yumina the Ethereal. The gameplay system is an evolution of the strategic overland map movement and tactical combat found in Aselia the Eternal, streamlining leveling, adding greater complexity in the form of separate physical defense and magical defense, and introducing a large cast of playable characters with unique skills. Skills are awarded as map completion objectives, with faster and more complete conquest rewarded with rare and powerful skills, giving players incentive to master the gameplay. You can see screenshots of the gameplay on its VNDB page.

Evaluation

I've played through the entire game, and the gameplay is a blast. The story mixes typical high school comedy with a fascinating sci-fi / fantasy setting, but the blend is smoother and more convincing than Yumina the Ethereal, with the plot and setting gradually introduced rather than dropped in your lap halfway through like with Yumina. Unlike Yumina, there's no grind or random encounters, which I appreciate. Seinarukana is currently rated 8.4/10 with 151 votes on VNDB, ranking it #3 in untranslated RPGs below Eushully's epics Ikusa Megami Zero and Ikusa Megami Verita.

English Release

Insider information suggests Seinarukana is planned for a 2015 release, likely timed to coincide with Anime Expo in early July. Unfortunately, JAST appears to be heading for a repeat of the mistakes they made with Yumina the Ethereal: taking a high-caliber RPG, hurling it at fans, then expecting the game to market itself.

RPGs require special marketing at a different audience

Ask existing VN fans (JAST's typical customers) to buy an RPG, and they're going to whine that there's gameplay getting in the way of their story. RPG fans don't necessarily frequent VN sites, because they don't like VNs especially--they like RPGs. On top of that, when RPG fans are looking for RPGs to buy, they're looking for promotional materials that highlight the gameplay: gameplay screenshots, gameplay videos, and playable demos.

Reviews are important

RPG fans tend to read reviews before they buy, which means RPG review sites need to be engaged and persuaded to review these games. I never saw any reviews of Yumina the Ethereal on RPG sites, which was probably the #1 reason it didn't do as well as JAST had hoped. There's a huge potential audience for VN-style RPGs with strong gameplay, but it's going to take more effort to tap than JAST is probably used to. But if they're going spend the considerable resources to license a long high-caliber RPG like Seinarukana...why wouldn't they market it the best they could?

Seinarukana is a Steam dream come true

Seinarukana has to be released on Steam. Absolutely. Positively. If the game can be listed on Steam, priced affordably, and it gets noticed--the game will sell like hotcakes. I've played Seinarukana, and the gameplay is a blast. Steam users will eat it up. Censoring the H-content in Seinarukana will be no issue because there's hardly any to begin with. And with a censored version, sites like RPGFan and RPGamer should be willing to review the game, which will multiply sales. Getting these sites review copies before release, to boost pre-release hype, is a key aspect of proper marketing!

My message to JAST

Disappointing sales of your RPGs is your own fault. You're dropping the ball. Put some effort into the marketing this time around and you'll get results! You have talented people working for you on Seinarukana that know what it takes to market RPGs. Talk to them! Throw money at them and give them the authority to do what it takes to make this release successful!

My message to readers

It's outside the scope of this article to convince you that Seinarukana is awesome. You'll just have to take make word for it. Regardless if you agree, if you care about visual novel style RPGs then I have a message for you: JAST needs your help. They're at a fork in the road where they're debating if high quality RPGs are worth the effort of releasing. They don't realize they're sitting on a gold mine; all they see is a caved-in tunnel that is taking forever to clear. And if they don't dig down, they'll never realize it.

I want YOU, the RPG fans, to help me tell JAST what they're doing wrong. Here's a pre-release thread for Seinarukana on the JAST official forums. Tell them what they need to do to reach RPG fans like you and me and make Seinarukana and future awesome RPGs a success. Do you want to see shining gems like Eushully's Ikusa Megami Verita in English? First we have to convince Japanese developers like Eushully that there's a market for these games in English, and we have to convince localization companies like JAST that translating a 100hr epic like that isn't going to bankrupt them.

I leave the sword in your hands, RPG fans.

For those that don’t know, the other day some villains ambushed me and they gave me a task – to produce a writing critique of Sakura Spirit. This, they say, will entertain the masses and provide much mirth for those on Fuwa. It is a task I went into full of hubris.

But first some background. Sakura Spirit is an English developed Visual Novel with extroadinarily pretty art, and yet it suffers from a horrible reputation. A reputation even more repulsive than those terribly translated, doujin, nukige abominations Mangagamer spews forth. The mere mention of this title produces hisses and insults from nearby people, reactions you’d usually only hear if you gatecrashed a teenagers party. Dressed in only a bathrobe and slippers. Shouting that it was past your child’s bed-time, you were here to collect them, and had anybody seen them?

There’s very few people or institutions that could release something so aesthetically beautiful only to produce such disgust in the public, and my money’s on the Government.

And so I went into this challenge supremely confident, reassured by the knowledge that the Government has never done anything right. I would be gifted a game that was completely horrid, and I would need to apply only a minisule amount of brainpower to produce a detailed critique. How misplaced a feeling this was!

But onto specifics, why the uproar over such a beautiful looking game? Well, there’s 4 reasons: there’s no plot, it’s a game about sex but there is none, it’s an English developed visual novel with Japanese words and phrases sprinkled everywhere, and the writing is horrid. So the only positives to the game are the pretty art, and the fanservice.

But surely gamers are a smart species, they wouldn't fork over good money just because of some large, oil-smeared boobs, am I right? That would be like watching NASCAR for the crashes, or watching a foreign film to laugh at the funny mistranslations in the subtitles.

But I was wrong. Over 100,000 people own Sakura Spirit, and that’s more than the entire voting population of Aruba. And most of them appear to have thoroughly enjoyed themselves, if the review system on Steam can be taken at face value.

Which it can’t.

But here’s the thing, if a small indie studio can sell over a hundred thousand copies just by including some nice art, and sprites with reflecting boobs, then there’s no incentive to provide a decent story or good writing. Writing takes time, and good writing even more so, and if there's little monetary reward to head down that path then people won’t.

But unlike Winged Cloud, Sekai Project is a production studio and DO have a professional reputation to maintain. In response to the uproar they made some apologetic sounds and issued some vague promises on Reddit. They said they asked Winged Cloud to “improve the grammar and writing” and have since “changed their QA procedure”. But despite their revamped QA procedure the situation repeated itself with Nekopara, another awfully pretty game that was obviously translated by the Government. This didn’t bode well for their first promise.

So over the next few weeks (Fuwa time) I will analyse the game’s writing to find out how much it has improved, and what writing issues are still included in the script. Obviously they wouldn't have been able to shoe-horn in a plot, or much additional character development, but what have they improved and how bad is the writing in its current form? Is Sakura Spirit finally worth purchasing or is it still nothing more than a glorified erotic CG gallery… with no actual porn?

That’s what we’ll find out.

Peter Payne, owner of VN publisher JAST and the J-List empire, made the following comment in their official forums:

JAST's experience with RPGs

JAST has released several RPGs over the years, including the Raidy series, Brave Soul, Aselia the Eternal, and most recently Yumina the Ethereal. JAST has said hinted before that the Raidy series did very well for them, and they seemed quite eager to work on Raidy 3, so I'd infer that it's not included in this assessment. Brave Soul was heavily pirated, as evidenced by the repetitive posts in the old forums asking how to save (which was explicitly outlined in the short paper manual that came with the game). The release of Aselia the Eternal was mired by issues, including a widely available fan translation patch, JAST's decision not to release a version with the original 18+ content due to concerns about the sexual portrayal of children, failure to pursue a Steam release, and the fact that by the time JAST got around to releasing it 8 years had passed and the game's graphics (640x480) and battle system were horribly dated. I previously discussed how Yumina the Ethereal's marketing was poorly handled, although eventually they did release a playable trial at least. Since Brave Soul was released 12 years ago and Aselia the Eternal probably didn't cost much to localize due to the existing fan patch (JAST worked with the same group for the official release), I presume JAST's statement is based largely on Yumina the Ethereal's sales.

Seinarukana: JAST's most ambitious RPG license to date

Synopsis

Seinarukana follows the dimension-traveling adventures of Nozomu and his band of friends. The story opens in a typical high school in Japan. Nozomu's everyday life is shattered when the school is suddenly attacked by strange invaders from another world wielding medieval weapons and fantastic magics. Amidst the chaos he and others awake to supernatural powers that had long lied dormant--powers inherited from a previous life. When the dust settles the entire campus has dimension shifted, and the students find themselves stranded in an alien world. While at first Nozomu and his friends simply seek to return to their world, they gradually become entangled in a dimension-spanning intrigue that threatens the entire multiverse. In the process, they discover the nature of their powers, and memories of their former lives begin to awaken.

Story and gameplay

The premise is reminiscent of its prequel Aselia the Eternal, though it has lighthearted school comedy elements that more resemble spiritual successor Yumina the Ethereal. The gameplay system is an evolution of the strategic overland map movement and tactical combat found in Aselia the Eternal, streamlining leveling, adding greater complexity in the form of separate physical defense and magical defense, and introducing a large cast of playable characters with unique skills. Skills are awarded as map completion objectives, with faster and more complete conquest rewarded with rare and powerful skills, giving players incentive to master the gameplay. You can see screenshots of the gameplay on its VNDB page.

Evaluation

I've played through the entire game, and the gameplay is a blast. The story mixes typical high school comedy with a fascinating sci-fi / fantasy setting, but the blend is smoother and more convincing than Yumina the Ethereal, with the plot and setting gradually introduced rather than dropped in your lap halfway through like with Yumina. Unlike Yumina, there's no grind or random encounters, which I appreciate. Seinarukana is currently rated 8.4/10 with 151 votes on VNDB, ranking it #3 in untranslated RPGs below Eushully's epics Ikusa Megami Zero and Ikusa Megami Verita.

English Release

Insider information suggests Seinarukana is planned for a 2015 release, likely timed to coincide with Anime Expo in early July. Unfortunately, JAST appears to be heading for a repeat of the mistakes they made with Yumina the Ethereal: taking a high-caliber RPG, hurling it at fans, then expecting the game to market itself.

RPGs require special marketing at a different audience

Ask existing VN fans (JAST's typical customers) to buy an RPG, and they're going to whine that there's gameplay getting in the way of their story. RPG fans don't necessarily frequent VN sites, because they don't like VNs especially--they like RPGs. On top of that, when RPG fans are looking for RPGs to buy, they're looking for promotional materials that highlight the gameplay: gameplay screenshots, gameplay videos, and playable demos.

Reviews are important

RPG fans tend to read reviews before they buy, which means RPG review sites need to be engaged and persuaded to review these games. I never saw any reviews of Yumina the Ethereal on RPG sites, which was probably the #1 reason it didn't do as well as JAST had hoped. There's a huge potential audience for VN-style RPGs with strong gameplay, but it's going to take more effort to tap than JAST is probably used to. But if they're going spend the considerable resources to license a long high-caliber RPG like Seinarukana...why wouldn't they market it the best they could?

Seinarukana is a Steam dream come true

Seinarukana has to be released on Steam. Absolutely. Positively. If the game can be listed on Steam, priced affordably, and it gets noticed--the game will sell like hotcakes. I've played Seinarukana, and the gameplay is a blast. Steam users will eat it up. Censoring the H-content in Seinarukana will be no issue because there's hardly any to begin with. And with a censored version, sites like RPGFan and RPGamer should be willing to review the game, which will multiply sales. Getting these sites review copies before release, to boost pre-release hype, is a key aspect of proper marketing!

My message to JAST

Disappointing sales of your RPGs is your own fault. You're dropping the ball. Put some effort into the marketing this time around and you'll get results! You have talented people working for you on Seinarukana that know what it takes to market RPGs. Talk to them! Throw money at them and give them the authority to do what it takes to make this release successful!

My message to readers

It's outside the scope of this article to convince you that Seinarukana is awesome. You'll just have to take make word for it. Regardless if you agree, if you care about visual novel style RPGs then I have a message for you: JAST needs your help. They're at a fork in the road where they're debating if high quality RPGs are worth the effort of releasing. They don't realize they're sitting on a gold mine; all they see is a caved-in tunnel that is taking forever to clear. And if they don't dig down, they'll never realize it.

I want YOU, the RPG fans, to help me tell JAST what they're doing wrong. Here's a pre-release thread for Seinarukana on the JAST official forums. Tell them what they need to do to reach RPG fans like you and me and make Seinarukana and future awesome RPGs a success. Do you want to see shining gems like Eushully's Ikusa Megami Verita in English? First we have to convince Japanese developers like Eushully that there's a market for these games in English, and we have to convince localization companies like JAST that translating a 100hr epic like that isn't going to bankrupt them.

I leave the sword in your hands, RPG fans.

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.

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.

Hello everyone, Rose here bringing you a post relevant to all Fuwa users. As we all know, the site went through a lot of changes lately and lots of people are still a bit lost about things, so to make everything clear, Tay made a really big post explaining his plans for the future, a summary of some new features planned and much more, so be sure to read it even if you're not confused, for you might actually learn about more stuff to come. Together with that, Eclipsed made a comprehensive list of the recent changes, and it brings you all the links you might possibly need to check if you're late for the party. Huge thanks to Tay for making a really clear and enlightening statement, and to Eclipsed for his great list of changes. Those two are surely going to help a lot of members understand the current situation.