What are you playing?

[Ike]

I read Umineko 1-4 with the replaced assets over the original version and it was fine. I actually like having a VN in a manageable window instead of in fullscreen, however glorious 1080p may be.

Which reminds me, I have some free time this weekend, so I think I'm going to advance in Chapter 5. I think I've already read half of it, so I might be able to finish it.

I'm a slow reader, though, because I always wait for the voices to finish talking, and I pause all the time to think about the plot and let all the info sink in or make theories. I only read fast boring or bad stories (usually compulsory reading for school; rarely VNs).

[Decay]

Having a VN in a window is fine, but 640x480 is so small... I have to lean in so close to my monitor to read that shit.

[KuroganeHomura]

Read Schwarzesmarken: Kouketsu no Monshou. Somehow I missed the fact that it's a two-part VN, so I was a rather surprised by the sudden credits roll. Didn't really like the fact that despite the rather high number of choices you get, they don't really matter much in the end apart from the few bad endings you can get, but I guess that's kinda unavoidable with a two-part release. That's about the only bad thing I can say about this VN, though. Now to wait for the release date of Junkyousha-tachi to be announced.

If you like VNs with a dark atmosphere, there's a good chance you'll like this one. Don't think you need to have read Muv-Luv Alternative to enjoy it, it's not really connected to it apart from the general setting. I guess you could watch an episode or two of the anime to see if you're interested in reading it; the VN is decidedly better, though. They had to compress it a lot to make it work as an anime.

[Vorathiel]

9 hours ago, KuroganeHomura said:

Read Schwarzesmarken

How long it was?
Also:

Spoiler

How are they cope with BETA? In Muv-Luv they were able to put up a good fight only because of Takeru and his ideas, how it looks like in XXth century Europa?

And can you tell me about it's structure? Little branches like in Muv Luv Alt, or maybe some different routes?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just finished Kara No Shoujo 2.
Spoilers about my thoughts on 'almost true ending'
 

Spoiler

I was enraged. I know what happened there, that it was all in Rejis' head, but.... First of, suddenly voice actress forgot how to play Toko. I read Kara 1 & 2 with only 3 days of break (for Yume Miru Kursui), so I remember original Tok owell. Here she sounds like a hyperactive kid. (same was in that little retrospection i nthe middle of the game). There is no sigh of that delicate melancholy in her voice, which I adore so much, her voice is much higher, she speaks much faster, and overall... It was not my Toko. I want my Toko back. :<

Also - that sudden, stupid 'embarassu' cancer giving h-scene (where every single one of them in Kara2 were on a scale from 'fine' to 'good'!), and lots of potential to give something strong, final blow to readers guts like realisation that Toko has no limbs, while he held her hand, or something like that. Nope.

And it puted me off from the game for a while I needed to breathe.

 

[KuroganeHomura]

1 hour ago, Vorathiel said:

How long it was?
Also:

  Reveal hidden contents

How are they cope with BETA? In Muv-Luv they were able to put up a good fight only because of Takeru and his ideas, how it looks like in XXth century Europa?

And can you tell me about it's structure? Little branches like in Muv Luv Alt, or maybe some different routes?

I'm not sure how much time I spent reading exactly, but I guess something like 20 hours.

Spoiler

The main approach the Eastern German army uses is "Laserjagd", which basically means a squad of mechs dives into the midst of the attacking BETA and eliminates the laser shooting enemies to disable their anti-air capabilities. Then they retreat and artillery bombardment commences. Naturally, it's a pretty dangerous method. Overall, they're fighting a losing battle and it seems the most they can hope for is postpone Eastern Germany's eventual defeat. On top of that, the Cold War is still ongoing, so cooperation between Eastern Germany and the West is pretty limited.

The plot is essentially linear, even more so than Alternative. There are some choices that lead to bad endings, but otherwise, the effect of the choices is limited to some differences in the dialogue directly following the choice.

[CeruleanGamer]

14 hours ago, Ike said:

I'm a slow reader, though, because I always wait for the voices to finish talking

Trust me, your backlogs will start adding up and you wont finish as many VNs as you want if you read VNs this way. I learned this after my 100th completed VN and 50+ backlogs still sitting unread.... Dont underestimate your brain. It is capable of knowledge absorption far more than what you expect and the plot isnt always as clear in the beginning so it's better to analyze and piece everything together when youre on the last half of the VN.

- CeruleanGamer the veteran VN reader of 850+ visual novels.

[Ike]

3 minutes ago, CeruleanGamer said:

Trust me, your backlogs will start adding up and you wont finish as many VNs as you want if you read VNs this way. I learned this after my 100th VN. Dont underestimate your brain. It is capable of knowledge absorption far more than you estimate and the plot isnt always as clear in the beginning so it's better to analyze and put stuff together when youre on the last half of the VN.

- CeruleanGamer the veteran VN reader of 850+ visual novels.

Haha, thanks for your concern, but I wasn't underestimating my reading abilities. I'm pretty much choosing to read slow in order to immerse myself in the story. And even then it's not that slow. Plus, it's not like I want to read all VNs that exist; I'm fine just by finding and reading the ones I think I'll enjoy the most.

It's just the kind of person I am, I guess.

[Deep Blue]

I played a bit of Hataraku Otona no Ren'ai Jijou, is so weird to see the characters blinking but not moving their lips or doing anything else o.o kinda creepy also if anyone wants to know the difficulty is rather easy to normal, so yeah is a readable vn.

12 minutes ago, Ike said:

Haha, thanks for your concern, but I wasn't underestimating my reading abilities. I'm pretty much choosing to read slow in order to immerse myself in the story. And even then it's not that slow. Plus, it's not like I want to read all VNs that exist; I'm fine just by finding and reading the ones I think I'll enjoy the most.

It's just the kind of person I am, I guess.

Rápido o lento, mientras disfrutes de la historia da igual  al fin y al cabo no se compite contra nadie xD

[Dergonu]

So, finally finished majikoi. It was one hell of a ride. The agave route was fantastic, and it's hyped me up for Majikoi S. I know it's not as good, I've been told several times, but I'm still really looking forward to it.

This is probably one of my favorite VNs of all time. It's so silly and goofy, but at the same time its so bloody good.

Some of my thoughts on the Agave route:

Spoiler

It was simply fantastic. The VN did a really great job of hyping up Shakadou and his students, just giving them a tiny bit of screen time in each route, and then they come out in full badass mode in the agave route. (Angel, I love you!!!)

The story itself was really good, and although I instantly figured out that Touma was the big bad guy, it still came as a shock when it was revealed, simply because of the way he has been shown as the good guy in the previous routes. I figured it out, but I didn't really believe it until they gave us the big reveal.

I do remember one thing though, I think it was Chris' route, that when the story of what happened to the characters after was displayed, for Touma it simply said "Dissapeared somewhere." That made me go ... Huh... Fishy. Also, Yuki NEVER fought at all during the main routes. It all supported the fact that something big was going to be revealed, and damn, it was awesome. This CG made me cry. (I cry a lot during VNs ... )

Honestly, the story of Yuki being the girl who was never saved by the Kazami family was so heart breaking ... It was obvious something was a little wrong with her throughout the story, but damn ... I NEVER saw that coming. Made me look at her in a whole new light.

 

So, it's time to start ikikoi. I know, it's apperantly crap. But to quote Kawasumi, "you love AF tsunderes so you'll be fine." So, I'm playing it anyways

Tsundere is love, tsundere is life!

[Vorathiel]

24 minutes ago, Dergonu said:  Reveal hidden contents

It was simply fantastic. The VN did a really great job of hyping up Shakadou and his students, just giving them a tiny bit of screen time in each route, and then they come out in full badass mode in the agave route. (Angel, I love you!!!)

The story itself was really good, and although I instantly figured out that Touma was the big bad guy, it still came as a shock when it was revealed, simply because of the way he has been shown as the good guy in the previous routes. I figured it out, but I didn't really believe it until they gave us the big reveal.

I do remember one thing though, I think it was Chris' route, that when the story of what happened to the characters after was displayed, for Touma it simply said "Dissapeared somewhere." That made me go ... Huh... Fishy. Also, Yuki NEVER fought at all during the main routes. It all supported the fact that something big was going to be revealed, and damn, it was awesome. This CG made me cry. (I cry a lot during VNs ... )

Honestly, the story of Yuki being the girl who was never saved by the Kazami family was so heart breaking ... It was obvious something was a little wrong with her throughout the story, but damn ... I NEVER saw that coming. Made me look at her in a whole new light.

So, it's time to start ikikoi. I know, it's apperantly crap. But to quote Kawasumi, "you love AF tsunderes so you'll be fine." So, I'm playing it anyways

Good luck!  You'll need it. ;d

[Funyarinpa]

Eclipsed, are you all right? What'd VLR do to you? 

[Dergonu]

7 minutes ago, Vorathiel said:

Good luck!  You'll need it. ;d

RIP

Nah the VN has this so I'll be fine :

Blood related sister, twintails and tsundere. SCORE!

 

10 hours ago, CeruleanGamer said:

Trust me, your backlogs will start adding up and you wont finish as many VNs as you want if you read VNs this way. I learned this after my 100th completed VN and 50+ backlogs still sitting unread.... Dont underestimate your brain. It is capable of knowledge absorption far more than what you expect and the plot isnt always as clear in the beginning so it's better to analyze and piece everything together when youre on the last half of the VN.

- CeruleanGamer the veteran VN reader of 850+ visual novels.

Someone put this somewhere on a sticky on the forum.

Cerulean has a point, I read like that before too, waiting for the voices. But it's just unecessary and slow. It just makes reading VNs a constant losing battle against the never ending backlog. I followed some tips she gave me on reading faster and ever since I've been clearing VNs a LOT more efficiently than before.

I will not lose the battle against my backlog!

[Tyr]

How to distinguish the different types of vn readers:

Newfag: is waiting for voices / uses auto mode
Veteran: neither slow voices nor flashy animations will stop his clicking rhythm
Elitist: uses the ctrl key to move the text forward

[CeruleanGamer]

43 minutes ago, Tyrosyn said:

Elitist: uses the ctrl key to move the text forward

Now I need to practice this skill. I still can't do it despite all these VNs I've read. Maybe @Clephas can offer some mentorship. 

[Clephas]

7 hours ago, CeruleanGamer said:

Now I need to practice this skill. I still can't do it despite all these VNs I've read. Maybe @Clephas can offer some mentorship. 

Only for H-scenes.

Edit: Most VNs have some kind of flash or pause that occurs at the end of h-scenes... it isn't always obvious, but once you've picked up the knack for it, it is easy to stop the text at the point where the sex ends.

[Hyoorx]

hello

i've just finished Steins;Gate and currenty i'm playing Fate

 

can you recommend something similar to Steins;Gate ? 
p.s. i;m playing on PC so i cant play Steins;Gate 0

[Ike]

25 minutes ago, Hyoorx said:

hello

i've just finished Steins;Gate and currenty i'm playing Fate

 

can you recommend something similar to Steins;Gate ? 
p.s. i;m playing on PC so i cant play Steins;Gate 0

Two of the most popular VNs out there, for sure. Meanwhile, I'm trash who's only watched the anime of both of them. I'll read them eventually.

And for recommendations, there is a subforum for that. If you open a thread there I'm sure someone who's read more than me can give you something good.

[Deep Blue]

3 hours ago, Clephas said:

Only for H-scenes.

Edit: Most VNs have some kind of flash or pause that occurs at the end of h-scenes... it isn't always obvious, but once you've picked up the knack for it, it is easy to stop the text at the point where the sex ends.

that usually happens when the character cums so the screen turns white followed by the "mayonnaise squish" sound, I do the same thing xD

[Kawasumi]

11 hours ago, Tyrosyn said:

How to distinguish the different types of vn readers:

Newfag: is waiting for voices / uses auto mode
Veteran: neither slow voices nor flashy animations will stop his clicking rhythm
Elitist: uses the ctrl key to move the text forward

Shit and I thought that I was slowly working my way up to elite lol

[Suzu Fanatic]

I'll stick with being a newfag skipping on voices is skipping half the experience.

 

Finished BB2 - I shall forever dub it Stockholm syndrome simulator. Though it's actually tamer then the last one, since they try depict it as justified, which works half the time.

I will say, I did get mildly upset at the ending.

 

Spoiler

Parshy :"( she...she simply disappeared.... :cries:

 

So props for it getting me invested in it even a bit.

 

Though the gameplay really took a turn for the worse on several fronts. ah well, it was a interesting time filler. I still can't shake the feeling I already played this last year sometime (after BB1).

 

Now onto my re-read of Ayakashibito~

[Decay]

The real high-level shit is to click through when you're done reading the line but to also toggle on the option to keep voices playing on click, so you still get the feel for the voices while speed reading. 

[onorub]

No lie, Meiya's ending from Muv Luv Extra is one of the most unintentionally funniest things i've read in a while.

[CeruleanGamer]

10 minutes ago, Decay said:

The real high-level shit is to click through when you're done reading the line but to also toggle on the option to keep voices playing on click, so you still get the feel for the voices while speed reading. 

This. Enjoy your precious heroine voices while the protagonist speaks because protagonists usually dont have any voices anyway.

Plus, are we seriously paying attention to voices that much outside of h-scenes? 

[TexasDice]

But wouldn't the character voices talking over the protagonists lines distract you guys from reading them out loud? 

[Suzu Fanatic]

26 minutes ago, CeruleanGamer said:

This. Enjoy your precious heroine voices while the protagonist speaks because protagonists usually dont have any voices anyway.

Plus, are we seriously paying attention to voices that much outside of h-scenes? 

I do, but I actually understand what they are saying (mostly). Find it much more immersive, as the voice-acting holds a lot of emotional nuances that text cannot always convey.