Jump to content

What are you playing?


Guest

Recommended Posts

16 hours ago, Dergonu said:

Well I finished Lucy ~ The eternity she wished for ~ and it was so beautiful. Such a good read. I ended up losing to @Eclipsed though. (We were racing to see who could finish it first.) Can't belive I lost ... Damnit  :makina:

 

Anyways, time to start playing Tokyo Babel. Have it downloaded and ready. Will start no lifing it this weekend. (Want to race me again Eclipsed? :holo: )

Technically if you didn't sneak in OTL + your little review on it, you would've whooped my ass :sachi:

Lucy's great y'all. Read it.

~~
Sadly. I'll probably down for the count for the next few months when it comes to VNs. My fuel tank that has been running on E for years now finally outright broke, so I'll need to replace that before I can refuel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just finished Steins;Gate for the March reading club. The phone choice system is pretty annoying, but the rest of the game is more or less perfect. I was surprised at how nearly identical it was to what I recall from the anime (normally, VN adaptations have to diverge pretty heavily), but the VN having side-routes makes a huge difference in the world. Each one really increased the impact of the main route alternative and gave a great feeling of closure for the associated character, as well as reliably providing a meaningful and solid ending to the story in its own right. The anime is way up there on my list of favorites, so with the VN coming out even better, it ended up basically at the top of my list.

I don't want to dissect this one too much, because the whole experience doesn't feel like something I can break down easily. I will say that there were lots of tears; probably more than for any other VN I've played. And I'll just add a recommendation that, if you're an idiot like several-weeks-ago-me who hasn't played Steins;Gate yet, make the time for it as soon as you can.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Taking Tokyo Babel for a spin and really liking it so far. The beginning did a good job pulling me in and the comedy is not only really good but it's strange how it never seems at odds with the rest of the story. Can't wait to see  what direction this goes.

BTW, anyone else thinking of Tieria from Gundam 00 when Setsuna speaks?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh yeah, here's some quick thoughts on Lucy.

Best scene in the entire VN: 
xaVMtLx.jpg (960×537)

Awww yeah, commence H-scene!@#

April fools.

~~
TL;DR I'm too old now so I didn't cry a river, but I did tear up and experience some pretty good feelsy feels, and the True End didn't "mind blow" me as much as it could've (because I'm a seasoned Zero Escape plot twist experiencer), jk it did and I could only grin like a moron.

It's a solid >= 8 out of 10 VN. Excellent visuals, Lucy's JP voice is great, appropriate BGM, and it manages to do what it wants to do with its story and themes given its short length.

~~
Misc. Thoughts/Ramblings (spoilers) @Nosebleed since you were interested in this ?

Spoiler

First Impressions

Spoiler

You can read my shoddy first impressions here (apparently these were made a month ago, GG, took one month to finish a 6ish hour VN :makina:

~~
Commentary from mid to endgame
-You's dad sucks. Like, he's the worst VN Antagonist I've come across since Kono Sora's Tobioka-Sensei. ie. a character that exists purely to cockblock the story & characters with their poisonous pessimism and brick wall negativity, and they get no redeeming scenes by the end whatsoever. Maybe that's how it was meant to be, but eh whatever, screw him!!!!1@#

Spoiler

HFzWdes.jpg (1267×707)

Hey, if You was like you (heh...), you fker, I would've dropped this VN. 


-Some of the best romance moments for me are when the protagonist goes through the "Holy crap, I'm in love with this heroine!" realization phase. You has an S-grade realization phase where he is laying in bed sick & Lucy being her usual happy cheerful self taking care of him. Then he just embraces her, tells her it's all her fault that he became this way, and she just apologizes repeatedly before finally embracing him back. It's just so d'awwwwwwwwwwww 

Spoiler

pbfSx0I.jpg (1267×709)

D'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW


-Did I mention Lucy's pretty hawt?

Spoiler

6aghkKv.jpg (1273×711)
 

Well, she just got even hotter. :ren:

:komari:

Btw, I think everyone who read Planetarian before this wondered how Lucy would go, and I bet none of us thought it would be from getting gasoline-ignited by a jerkass father ._.


-You know how sometimes a medium has a title that has no relation to itself at all, or even worse, a really half-assed mention (*cough* Charlotte)? Well, Lucy does its ~The Eternity she wished for~ title 100% justice. I wet my pants during the late game discussion between You and Lucy where they talk about what eternity means, how Lucy's Eternity was to be remembered by You forever, and the whole philosophical Lucy's body vs. Lucy's memory bits.

Spoiler

fLpV6k4.png (1269×709)

Decisions, decisions. I chose original memories, haven't checked other choice dialogue results. And as obvious as picking original memories may be, Lucy did mention that, at least in the lore of this VN, you could alter her memories just as easily as replacing her parts...

So, solution? Pick both!@# Twice the Lucy!@#

And then they even manage to put icing on the cake by adding "And... What I wish for" to the title once you nab the ends. Speaking of the ends,


Forgotten End vs. True End 
Small comment about these two ends, I really like how much they contrast / how black and white they are to each other. Forgotten End Lucy gets the biggest slap to the face in the history of slap to the faces with You abandoning the whole "Lucy's eternity is to be remembered by master forever" by his ultimately moving on, completely forgetting Lucy, and getting stable job + wife + children within the next 20 years

Whereas true end Lucy gets the biggest 'copout' happy ending in the history of (just kidding, it's lampshaded by the whole 'he spent the next 15 years working day and night to bring back Lucy'. ie. it didn't really feel like a copout / he 'earned' his happy end. Anyways, it's much better than LB's insta-space magic, at least).


True End
You is the Doctor in the 'flashbacks' the whole time?!?!!! HOLY SHIT!@##

 That's all that really needs to be said. But yeah, I had some suspishies here and there, but would always brush them aside, cuz context from those dialogues were totally appropriate for yada yada blah blah blah

D9FvdVl.jpg (1265×699)

Commence tears.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Eclipsed said:

Oh yeah, here's are some quick thoughts on Lucy. 

Best scene in the entire VN: 
xaVMtLx.jpg (960×537)

Awww yeah, commence H-scene!@#

April fools.

~~
TL;DR I'm too old now so I didn't cry a river, but I did tear up and experience some pretty good feelsy feels, and the True End didn't "mind blow" me as much as it could've (because I'm a seasoned Zero Escape plot twist experiencer), jk it did and I could only grin like a moron.

It's a solid >= 8 out of 10 VN. Excellent visuals, Lucy's JP voice is great, appropriate BGM, and it manages to do what it wants to do with its story and themes given its short length.

~~
Misc. Thoughts/Ramblings

  Reveal hidden contents

 

First Impressions

  Reveal hidden contents

You can read my shoddy first impressions here (apparently these were made a month ago, GG, took one month to finish a 6ish hour VN :makina:

 



Commentary from mid to endgame
-You's dad sucks. Like, he's the worst VN Antagonist I've come across since Kono Sora's Tobioka-Sensei. ie. a character that exists purely to cockblock the story & characters with their poisonous pessimism and brick wall negativity, and they get no redeeming scenes by the end whatsoever. Maybe that's how it was meant to be, but eh whatever, screw him!!!!1@#

  Reveal hidden contents

HFzWdes.jpg (1267×707)

Hey, if You was like you (heh...), you fker, I would've dropped this VN. 


-Some of the best romance moments for me are when the protagonist goes through the "Holy crap, I'm in love with this heroine!" realization phase. You has an S-grade realization phase where he is laying in bed sick & Lucy being her usual happy cheerful self taking care of him. Then he just embraces her, tells her it's all her fault that he became this way, and she just apologizes repeatedly before finally embracing him back. It's just so d'awwwwwwwwwwww 

  Reveal hidden contents

pbfSx0I.jpg (1267×709)

D'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW


-Did I mention Lucy's pretty hawt?

  Reveal hidden contents

6aghkKv.jpg (1273×711)
 

Well, she just got even hotter. :ren:

:komari:

Btw, I think everyone who read Planetarian before this wondered how Lucy would go, and I bet none of us thought it would be from getting gasoline-ignited by a jerkass father ._.


-You know how sometimes a medium has a title that has no relation to itself at all, or even worse, a really half-assed mention (*cough* Charlotte)? Well, Lucy does its ~The Eternity she wished for~ title 100% justice. I wet my pants during the late game discussion between You and Lucy where they talk about what eternity means, how Lucy's Eternity was to be remembered by You forever, and the whole philosophical Lucy's body vs. Lucy's memory bits.

  Reveal hidden contents

fLpV6k4.png (1269×709)

Decisions, decisions. I chose original memories, haven't checked other choice dialogue results. And as obvious as picking original memories may be, Lucy did mention that, at least in the lore of this VN, you could alter her memories just as easily as replacing her parts...

So, solution? Pick both!@# Twice the Lucy!@#

And then they even manage to put icing on the cake by adding "And... What I wish for" to the title once you nab the ends. Speaking of the ends,


Forgotten End vs. True End 
Small comment about these two ends, I really like how much they contrast / how black and white they are to each other. Forgotten End Lucy gets the biggest slap to the face in the history of slap to the faces with You abandoning the whole "Lucy's eternity is to be remembered by master forever" by his ultimately moving on, completely forgetting Lucy, and getting stable job + wife + children within the next 20 years

Whereas true end Lucy gets the biggest 'copout' happy ending in the history of (just kidding, it's lampshaded by the whole 'he spent the next 15 years working day and night to bring back Lucy'. ie. it didn't really feel like a copout. Anyways, it's much better than LB's insta-space magic, at least).


True End
You is the Doctor in the 'flashbacks' the whole time?!?!!! HOLY SHIT!@##

 That's all that really needs to be said. But yeah, I had some suspishies here and there, but would always brush them aside, cuz context from those dialogues were totally appropriate for yada yada blah blah blah

D9FvdVl.jpg (1265×699)

Commence tears.

/Rant :marie: 

Glad we share a lot of opinions. This thing was so beautiful. 

That "To ensure safe sexual practice" scene made me laugh really hard :wahaha: 

Gold. 

Spoiler

Rated no H-scene / 10 :Kappa: 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tried all 3 choices when Lucy asks which one you'd pick and they're all kinda negative so there's no true correct choice. Also the achievement apparently gets unlocked regardless of the choice, solidifying the paradox even more.

I'm glad you enjoyed the game, it's good to see people having such fun experiences with it. And yeah that "sex scene" was pretty damn hilarious.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I/O - Revision II.
I'm in the middle of second chapter, game tells me that this is around 30% of the whole.
What a strange title. First game by Regista (Root Double), written and directed by who is standing behind Infinity Series.
Sometimes I feel like I should gave it 10/10, sometimes 5/10 tops. It's not like it's irregular or uneven. It's just so hard to understand (at this point) what's going on, that I really don't know waht I think about this. Sometimes it's very serious, sometimes it does typical moe-shit (very small amounts, but becaouse of seriousness, it's visible), sometimes it's really smart, and sometimes it's just dumb.

It's a retro-sf. Action is takin place in 203X, but it's like hard sf predicting not so distant future, but written in 80s/90s (game was developed 10 years ago). All that virtual reality stuff, biocomputers are fine and somehow creative, but search engines works like it's 1997 (protag of first route is literally typing "WORD AND WORD AND WORD) and it's not giving him any results, because he was just searchng the net, and not typing it in some dictionary. But I don't mind that. Retro SF can be really fun, and this definitelly is.

Art it's strange, colours are really bleak and characters are crooked and sometimes just 'ugly', but they have very distinctive and original vibe, which is great. Music is awesome, although is unfoundable on youtube.

Anybody read it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Vorathiel said:

I/O - Revision II.
I'm in the middle of second chapter, game tells me that this is around 30% of the whole.
What a strange title. First game by Regista (Root Double), written and directed by who is standing behind Infinity Series.
Sometimes I feel like I should gave it 10/10, sometimes 5/10 tops. It's not like it's irregular or uneven. It's just so hard to understand (at this point) what's going on, that I really don't know waht I think about this. Sometimes it's very serious, sometimes it does typical moe-shit (very small amounts, but becaouse of seriousness, it's visible), sometimes it's really smart, and sometimes it's just dumb.

It's a retro-sf. Action is takin place in 203X, but it's like hard sf predicting not so distant future, but written in 80s/90s (game was developed 10 years ago). All that virtual reality stuff, biocomputers are fine and somehow creative, but search engines works like it's 1997 (protag of first route is literally typing "WORD AND WORD AND WORD) and it's not giving him any results, because he was just searchng the net, and not typing it in some dictionary. But I don't mind that. Retro SF can be really fun, and this definitelly is.

Art it's strange, colours are really bleak and characters are crooked and sometimes just 'ugly', but they have very distinctive and original vibe, which is great. Music is awesome, although is unfoundable on youtube.

Anybody read it?

Read until I was quite a ways into it.

Dropped after a point because it got WAY too confusing, you'll understand why once you get to Route C/D.

Loved the atmosphere and music (I/O's OP might  really be my favorite VN opening to date), but I am too stupid for it so it lost me after a while.

I should give it another spin sometime

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Eclipsed said:

What's I/O about? Is it just mindscrew after mindscrew after mindscrew Retro Sci-Fi style?

It's not necessarily full of mindscrews, although there are some in there. It's just not very straightforward in its narrative, especially in routes D and E... I think, I forgot which routes were which by now lol. The narrative blends reality and virtual reality in a way that often makes it very difficult to understand what's really happening and what's not, and if that's even a meaningful distinction to begin with. Lemnisca's translation of it was fantastic, so at least that's not an issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm reading/playing it too. 30 hours on it (All that remains is the "true route" part) ...I absolutely adore the art, the music, most of the characters (Mayumi :wub:), the cyberpunk universe....and the narration is terrifically interesting. But you have to read/play it little by little. Because, it's so exhausting (route C or D were more or less OK. However my poor brain wasn't prepared to Route E) :upupu:

Edit : Indeed, It's too bad we can't find I/O's OST :wacko:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tokyo Babel is pretty swell. I already read Raziel's route, I just couldn't stop partway.

Here's some random non-spoilery impressions, partly because I'm tired and partly because I feel it's important to hype good new VNs.

  • Tokyo Babel is damn cool. Character and monster designs, chuuni dialog, fight scenes... Tension, excitement and "Hell Yeah"-feelings are really strong most of the time.
  • The music is really good, both the melancholic pieces and the high-tension battle music.
  • It's surprisingly humorous. Some amount of humor is always expected, but Tokyo Babel manages to be really hilarious at times, and in a way that doesn't distract from the serious parts.
  • The setting is really fascinating in Tokyo Babel and so are it's themes. Since the setting is based on Christian mythology it should come as no surprise that it's filled with religious themes, but at times Tokyo Babel managed to still really impress me. Without going to too much detail, there's some pretty intriguing stuff about topics like faith, immortality, and of course reason for being -- "raison d'être".   
  • Oh yeah, the translation is top notch too. It sounds very natural during normal conversations as it should, and more importantly suitably theatrical when it needs to.

So yeah, it's great. I can't wait to see what the other routes have to offer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Turnip Sensei said:

Tokyo Babel is pretty swell. I already read Raziel's route, I just couldn't stop partway.

Here's some random non-spoilery impressions, partly because I'm tired and partly because I feel it's important to hype good new VNs.

  • Tokyo Babel is damn cool. Character and monster designs, chuuni dialog, fight scenes... Tension, excitement and "Hell Yeah"-feelings are really strong most of the time.
  • The music is really good, both the melancholic pieces and the high-tension battle music.
  • It's surprisingly humorous. Some amount of humor is always expected, but Tokyo Babel manages to be really hilarious at times, and in a way that doesn't distract from the serious parts.
  • The setting is really fascinating in Tokyo Babel and so are it's themes. Since the setting is based on Christian mythology it should come as no surprise that it's filled with religious themes, but at times Tokyo Babel managed to still really impress me. Without going to too much detail, there's some pretty intriguing stuff about topics like faith, immortality, and of course reason for being -- "raison d'être".   
  • Oh yeah, the translation is top notch too. It sounds very natural during normal conversations as it should, and more importantly suitably theatrical when it needs to.

So yeah, it's great. I can't wait to see what the other routes have to offer.

I'm in love with it mostly, too. :sachi: My heart hurts seeing it have such a weak reception.

 

If I had an issue (besides some pacing problems), I'm not really into how MG conveyed Sorami's manner of written dialouge - it feels "off" compared to her voiceactor. Plus cheesy things like "gosh darn"...I mean, WHO SAYS THAT?! :P Might be because she was also Tohsaka Rin (I think? sure sounds like her VA), so some of the re-imagined dialouge is a bit jarring.

 

I'm ok with the rest of the localization though~

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm playing Yume Miru Kusuri at the moment. It's sort of a mixed bag.

The protagonist is a douche, but the girls are sweet. The eroge is well-written, but gratuitous at times. And why is there no route for the little sister? The protagonist is spending all this time building up relationships with the girls, meanwhile he has like a nukige level of sexual tension with his little sister. And then she just kinda fades out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Suzu Fanatic said:

I'm in love with it mostly, too. :sachi: My heart hurts seeing it have such a weak reception.

 

If I had an issue (besides some pacing problems), I'm not really into how MG conveyed Sorami's manner of written dialouge - it feels "off" compared to her voiceactor. Plus cheesy things like "gosh darn"...I mean, WHO SAYS THAT?! :P Might be because she was also Tohsaka Rin (I think? sure sounds like her VA), so some of the re-imagined dialouge is a bit jarring.

 

I'm ok with the rest of the localization though~

I actually really like the way Sorami's speech is portrayed in the translation. She already says weird things in Japanese and in strangely energetic way, so in my head the 'gosh darn' blabbering Sorami is perfect match for her voice acting. 

And I just really like how Sorami talks in general. Some of my favorite lines from Tokyo Babel so far came from Sorami blurting out something really heavy in really mundane and natural way, like it would be the most obvious thing in the world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Canicheslayer said:

I'm reading/playing it too. 30 hours on it (All that remains is the "true route" part) ...I absolutely adore the art, the music, most of the characters (Mayumi :wub:), the cyberpunk universe....and the narration is terrifically interesting. But you have to read/play it little by little. Because, it's so exhausting (route C or D were more or less OK. However my poor brain wasn't prepared to Route E) :upupu:

Edit : Indeed, It's too bad we can't find I/O's OST :wacko:

It's decoded in 'BGM.arc' file, but sadly I couldn't extract it with any program I have.

I also play it little by little. In last few days I watched whole House Of Cards season 4, whole Heroes Of Might and Magic campaign on youtube (around 45 hours), and read maybe 6 hours of I/O... but I still feel, that I/O cost me the most. But it's great, I love how focus demanding it is.

And yeah, keep me in fear of route E. Can't wait to see that! :D

I don't really like structure though. Although it fits with setting moe straightforward aproach than all those 1.0 and 0.1 ending and then also routes " ' " is just...unnecessary.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Vorathiel said:

I also play it little by little. In last few days I watched whole House Of Cards season 4, whole Heroes Of Might and Magic campaign on youtube (around 45 hours), and read maybe 6 hours of I/O... but I still feel, that I/O cost me the most. But it's great, I love how focus demanding it is.

Good. You're wiser than me. I did make the mistake to read, without a real pause (and so I neglected Gahkthun), routes B, C, D (0,1 & 1.0) and E :marie:

Quote

And yeah, keep me in fear of route E. Can't wait to see that! :D

Prepare the aspirin and don't lose your sanity ;)

Quote

I don't really like structure though. Although it fits with setting moe straightforward aproach than all those 1.0 and 0.1 ending and then also routes " ' " is just...unnecessary

Yes, their intentions were good. I really love originality but It's more confusing and frustrating (seriously, Route A or B 0.1...) than anything...I Hope Root Double will be different :sacchan:

10 hours ago, CatSoul said:

I'm playing Yume Miru Kusuri at the moment. [...]And why is there no route for the little sister? The protagonist is spending all this time building up relationships with the girls, meanwhile he has like a nukige level of sexual tension with his little sister. And then she just kinda fades out.

I read somewhere it was a question of budget for the developer, rúf.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I ended up finishing Shiraki's route in Yume Miru Kusuri last night by staying up until 3:30 in the morning. Totally worth all the BS. Without spoiling much, the last hour or so of reading was top-notch. Overall, I'd give it a 7/10, primarily for its rough start.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, john 'mr. customer' smith said:

So I finally finished Sekien no Inganock. it was satisfying, beautiful, but still probably too complicated and allegorical for me to truly appreciate it outside of its art

Maybe I'm just too dense to notice it, but I don't think there are any "big" allegories or complications that you should be looking for or be worried about, in Inganock. My feeling from both Inganock and Gahkthun was that the Steampunk series is actually about telling rather simple stories about human emotions and motivations, using a big, fantastic setting and somewhat complicated plot to really bring out the most of that emotional impact.

At any rate, fiction is a work of art created by an author and a reader - so don't let me or anybody else take away from it what you found there :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished the Partial translation of dracu-riot. Plot is pretty meh, the whole vampire plot thing's been overdone so I found noble works better. Also the plot is more predictable than shyamalan's The Visit

Translation is definitely australian. Also memes.

Gonna read tokyo babel now. Have high hopes since its by the same dudes who did ayakashibito.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...