solace

I absolutely loved Dmmd although there is still quite a bit to complain about.

First of all I'm a huge Noiz fan. He was my favorite character from the start, my first route, I didn't even realize I was on his route until I realized that nobody had showed up in the capital for 30-40 minutes. I didn't get a choice on who to think about.

I think Koujaku's story dragged itself out a little long. It was interesting at first and by the end I was glad it was over.

The other three really bugged me though. I'm never going to forgive Mink's route for its poor story telling choice. The second Aoba had justified Mink's physical abuse and rape I was enraged. It was done because Mink wasn't able to say it himself but it was still awful to read. I disliked that in Clear's route Aoba was still the uke. I understand they wanted that to be Aoba's general role but for the most part Aoba claims to be a varying degree of gay depending on the route and he lacks sexual experience. Therefore he doesn't have the experience to have a cut and dry preference for one position in the other and I felt that Aoba and Clear's relationship put Aoba in a seme role the whole route except for the moment they get their h-scene. As for the true route this doesn't even deserve a spoiler tag but all I have to say is that Mink and Noiz both feel very OOC during the routem all of the characters are all like "yeah I'll help!" Even if they have no real motivation or reasoning to care in the events of that route.

Other than that I enjoyed the general plot, I thought it had good characterization, I enjoyed the art and the storytelling (besides what I've listed) I think that the music was actually pretty good too and I enjoyed the bad ends as much as the good ends. When it comes to BL VNs it is definitely my second favorite.

(Last time…) Guy: "Oookay. I still think they're porny." (< not a word)   Me: "That probably says more about you than the art style."   *Tay gets slugged*   Me: "Owww!"   Guy: "No, but really. Why not just read a book or comic instead?"       (And now for the "epic" conclusion!)   Me: “What do you mean?”   Guy: “I dunno. Why read *that”—“    *he waves a finger lazily at the PC screen*    “when you could just read a comic or a book, instead?”   Me: “Um. Because variety is a good thing? For example, do you eat the same thing for lunch every day?”   *Uncomfortable moment of silence.*   Me: “You do, don’t you?”   Guy: “Yeah, generally.”   Me: “Dang. Way to pull a Ford on me. Okay, so, that was a bad example –“   Guy: “Ford?”   Me: “Henry Ford. The guy who made the cars? He’s famous for the line, ‘You can have any color [of Model T] as long as it's black.’ Meaning: sameness is boring.”   *Guy’s eyes are still glazed over*   Me: “Okay, fine. Tell me a hobby that interests you.”   Guy: “NASCAR.”   Me: “Um. No. Try again. Give me another one. A better one.”   *Tay gets slugged*   Me: “Owww!”   Guy: “Music, then.”   Me: *Rubbing arm* “What kind of music?”   Guy: “Oh, all kinds.”   Me: “What’s your favorite song?”   Guy: “’The Angry American’ by Toby Keith”   *Uncomfortable moment of silence*   Me: “I’m feeling increasingly justified, here. If that’s your favorite song, we’ve got bigger problems to deal with.” *Continuing rapidly to avoid more pain* “Okay, so, by comparison – don’t you like listening to more than just that one song? Or to just Toby Keith? Isn’t it good to get some variety?”   Guy: “I guess so. But I do listen to him most of the time. I don’t like much else.”   Me: “You’re making this very hard, [Guy]. Anyway, I’m sure that if you searched your soul you’d discover that variety is a good thing and keeps life interesting. I do read books, but I also read these things—“    *pointing to PC screen*    “—because they’re fun. And different.”   Guy: “And porny.”   Me: “What is it with you and that word?”   Guy: “It’s just what they are, [Tay].”   Me: *mucho annoyed look*   Guy: “I’d be too embarrassed to get caught reading one of those.”   Me: “How mature of you.”   Guy: “They can’t be that much different than a book, man.”   Me: “You’d be surprised.”   Guy: “Not likely.”   Me: “How about we make this interesting?”   Guy: “Fine by me.”   Me: “I’m going to let you borrow [my tablet] for a few hours. You’re going to play one of these ‘porny’ games. If it doesn’t impress you, I’ll buy you lunch. If it does impress you, however, you buy me lunch. And if it makes you cry, you have to take my afternoon shift.”   Guy: “Fine. But if I hate it, you have to take my shift tomorrow morning.”   Me: “Great.” *tap* *tap* *tap*    Guy: “So what am I reading?”   Me: “It’s a sunny little thing called 'Planetarian'.” *hands over tablet*   Guy: “Wish me luck.”   Me: “Good luck. Oh, and I locked the other apps, so you can’t snoop. Sorry.”   Guy: “D*@%.”         The After-Story: [Guy] loved Planetarian and he definitely cried. Lunch was delicious, as was having the afternoon off. He’s interested in trying another “porny game”, though I do not know which one I’ll recommend to him. I have not yet actually told him that there is, in fact, porn in some of the games. Mostly because I really hate the word “porny.”

So this happened earlier today in the clinic. How would you have finished the conversation if you were in my shoes? 
 
*Tap on my shoulder*
 
Guy (fellow student): "Yo [Tay], what's that?" *Points to Fuwanovel on my PC screen*
 
Me: "Oh, well, that's... kind of hard to explain. It's an online community I hang out in."
 
Guy: "What's it about?"
 
Me: "It's a fan community for something called 'visual novels'."
 
*Guy's eyes glaze over*
 
Me: (continuing) "It's interactive fiction. Kind of like a love child between graphic novels and video games."
 
*Guy points to a pic of Saber* (< I was working on the Fate/HA walkthrough)
 
Guy: "Is there a lot of that? The Japanese porn drawings?" (< Saber was fully-armored, btw)
 
Me: " First of all, 'that' is a character named 'Saber' from an epic visual novel, and she is awesome. The visual novel she comes from is actually longer than the Lord of the Rings trilogy, believe it or not, so show it some respect, heathen. But yes, visual novels started in Japan so there are a lot of them drawn in the anime-ish art style."
 
Guy: "Oookay. I still think they're porny." (< not a word)
 
Me: "That probably says more about you than the art style."
 
*Tay gets slugged*
 
Me: "Owww!"
 
Guy: "No, but really. Why not just read a book or comic instead?"
 
 
 
... how would you have responded? And stay tuned for the epic conclusion to this fateful conversation, coming soon!

thank you for the signature mr.moegii

Sounds interesting! I'd (of course) be interested in taking a look at it, but let's make sure we do what's best for you, too, if this is an ambitious blog post : ).

Warning, long post:
 
First off, you have everything from recommending Katawa Shoujo down twice.
 
Can't be bothered to quote that entire huge chunk of text for what I need, so bear with me here:
 "Personally I think the Japanese voiceovers really add."
...Add what? This sentence isn't complete.
 
"Most visual novels are translated by fans and not actual companies, and as such they don’t dub the voices if there are voiceovers. Instead they only translate the text."
Even official companies (like Mangagamer, Aksys when they released otomege, Sekai Project and JAST) keep the voices. That's not the reason. Anime culture in general is heavily against dubs, and it's waay too much money to pony up if you're gonna be reading what they're saying anyway. Not worth it.
 
"Let’s start by defining what a visual novel is. It is a developing medium that originated in Japan, and it is often adapted after an anime or graphic novel/manga."
...? I think you mean this the other way around. Anime is adapted from VNs....
 
You make it kinda sound like most of the time people won't just be reading text? Like, you don't mention that it's first and foremost a book. That you happen to read on the computer. The "novel" part is a key part. Having people expect something like Ace Attorney constantly will just be setting them up for disappointment.
 
"Many visual novels can be easily compared to RPGs, except in the way they tell the story and the fact that they have more complicated branching plots and more character routes."
This definitely makes people think that VNs have a great deal more gameplay than they actually do. And if you're gonna do that, suggest an RPG/VN hybrid for them, then, so they can get their feet wet. There are none on that list.
 
Also, a picture or two would greatly help with the imagining of what a typical VN screen looks like. Because you're either kinda vague or really confusing. This is for beginners. What is a "character sprite"? Frankly, I played Da Capo II just last night and I have trouble picturing what a typical VN looks like using your description.
 
....Okay, but why link to the Fuwanovel Katawa Shoujo when you could link to the Dev's site...?
 
Your recommendation structure is also really confusing. Should I go Good Starter Novels -> Possibilities -> If you liked these, read these possibilities -> If you enjoyed these, read these? Is there a reason your final list has much more information about each game than the middle two? Are there any connections between all of these lists, a natural follow-up order where you read Katawa Shoujo then Clannad then Shuffle then Grisaia or something? You might wanna either make that clear or just make it one list. Because Katawa Shoujo then Clannad then G-senjou then Comyu is a really interesting evolution, but they don't really build on one another...
 
If you're gonna recommend Little Busters, I wouldn't recommend Clannad in the same list and vice-versa. They're the same type of novel by the same people, so maybe move one to "If you liked these"? If there is indeed a natural order through which to move between lists. In return, I'd add Fate/Stay Night somewhere in your recommendation structure, based on its popularity as a gateway VN (seriously, go read the "what was your first VN" topic), and not starting people with any visual novels with action in them until they move to G-Senjou is just odd?? They got through two lists believing that VNs are mainly romance-genre Chara-ge....
 
I'll also note that I've never seen Shuffle recommended anywhere. For anyone. So that's kinda interesting. (I'd maybe leave that off the list..., but that's me..)

Woah, what an amazing intro! 10/10
Welcome to Fuwa, hope to see you around.
 
 
Extremely so, I guess.
 

As one of the frequenters of the Skype group that is neither insane nor pervy, I feel obliged to question the validity of the parenthesized part there. At least the nice part is true
 
Instead of pervy, I'd prefer to say we're all normal people, except that the FSG is a place where we're all a bit more honest than you might expect people in everyday life to be.

i would recommend juniper's knot.

"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed."
"Promises are like babies. Easy to make, hard to deliver."
"It's how you deal with failure that determines how you achieve success."

"I can resist everything but temptation"
"A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."

hello naki nice to meet you and i hope you enjoy your time on the forums.

Can we have awards for people who contribute intellectual analysis and thoughts on Visual novels. I worked Hella hard writing this analysis:
Kanon: Mai and Sayuri Analysis
 
I'm also sure Maefdomn worked hard on this as well:
Swan Song Review/Thoughts thread
 
Honestly one of the things I find a tad disappointing with the forums these days is that there are a lot less insightful threads. If you look at the really old stuff in the back of Visual Novel Talk you can find threads like this:
 
Sexism in Visual Novels
The Way of Eroge
Visual Novels and their emotional meanings to you
Is romance necessary
 
Starting insightful discussions and making analytic contributions are important and should be valued as such. So awarding people who do so seems like an appropriate thing to do.  

Every single time I glance past this topic I read it as "Shitbox"... Not sure if accident or ill omen.

I thought it was pretty good outside of one particular bit. I'd spoiler it, but I have no idea how to get the tags to work on this forum.

How is the game ? did you already play it ? did you like it? how is the combat system ? Are you playing NA or EU version?
FuwaNest is a pretty cool name

Go back to your litter box!

I'll just drop my opinion here.  Uproar I'm sure will ensue, apologies in advance.
 
I had an interesting chat in IRC earlier this morning with RaptorFB.  Essentially, he pointed out that this torrent was already created, and was appalled at how quickly the game was cracked and released as a free torrent.  That part is nothing new - Day0 and Day1 releases are incredibly common with nearly everything nowadays.  However, many of those fandoms have such large fanbases that people who want shiny extras will buy the game anyway.  Hell, most people just buy the game regardless of the extras because "Hey I (or my kid, depending on the circumstances) wants Call of Duty and Halo and {insert random other shooter that I don't play because they give me a headache}, and so I'ma just go buy it for him."  Visual Novels don't have sort of widespread influence on the market.
 
Companies like Mangagamer, etc., spend sizable amounts of money in order to obtain licenses, perform translations, do editing, and making sure that the game is presentable to an English market.  They then sell these games, which in turn provide the funding for more titles.  What they release is based on how much their previous games made.  If you see a string of nukige, it's because sales haven't been so fantastic.  When you see major titles like Cartagra or Dengeki Stryker or Shuffle! come out, it means that sales were decent, so they could bring a more popular title over.
 
Fuwanovel's goal has, as far as I'm aware, has always been "Making Visual Novels Popular in the West."  Previously, in order to do that, we had to hype and pirate everything in order to create a large enough group of people that could actually be marketed to.  Companies picked up on that marketability, took a shot, and now we have a few companies that are making it out there with the help of people who actually want to support the company and not just get their rocks off and move on.  If they want to just get their rocks off, well, there's plenty of nukige they can pick from thanks to the massive amounts of pirating that has occurred.
 
But Ryechu, I don't have money blah blah blah... That sounds like a personal problem, and has zero effect on the fact that you should support the companies that are trying to make your favorite medium popular.
 
The motto should remain, but our approach should be different.  Fan-translated works and the like should still be hosted, because that's the only way we're going to see many, if not all of those.  If the Japanese parent company has an issue with it, they put out a C&D, and move on.  However, any mention of illegally obtaining licensed products should be immediately destroyed.  Requests for licensed titles, similarly, should be posted on and locked.
 
If they're that desperate, there's this cool thing called Google.  I don't advocate its use for that purpose, but I can't force my hands through your monitors to stop you from doing it either, as much as I would like to.
 
TL;DR:  Support licensed titles by actually buying them, and destroy anything requesting free versions of these licensed titles on Fuwa.  We want to make Visual Novels popular in the West, and the only way to do that is to support the companies attempting to do that.
Edit: Oh I would sooooo sign up to mod requests forum just so I could nom on delicious "gimmegimme" souls.

@melo0920 interesting if it involves cats i might like it.what is it about?
 
ps. mind if i just call you melo as opposed to melo0920?