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Just started playing/reading Pretty Soldier Wars A.D. 2048. Despite being a old game, the art itself looks very nice and been enjoying the RPG aspects of it, similar to most tactical turn based squad like XCOM or the old school Fallouts games! 

I've heard the game's being hard and unbeatable from other people in some areas in the Internet however I'll try completing it anyways lol :wahaha:

Edited by Templarseeker
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Started reading Six Days of Snow and at the very beginning there's this line from the protagonist, a writer:

QFE9LeT.jpg

It seems he takes a direct opposite stance from the actual author. I was tempted to say Ebi should hear her own advice here, but I guess we would miss out on some really great VNs if that was the case. :wafuu: The art in this though... I think there's some serious Fata Morgana inspiration here. Can't complain about that.

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I'm currently playing HapyMaher and Planetarian in its german version. You'll notice they tled it three times though. Just did it to judge a german translation as a german person.
Else I'm trying to finish Evenicle but chapter 5 leaves me in a slump... Also I'm really disappointed by the lack of depth in the combat system and the difficulty curve. It doesn't get harder at all, very casual game.

Evenicle Review on Friday on our Website btw, stay tuned!

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Still making my way through Rea's route in Dies Irae and I am liking the direction it's going in for Rea and how it seems to be going in a different direction with Trifa and Lisa than the other routes. Though if I had a complaint...

Spoiler

wow, that was a really pathetic ending for Kei. I was kind of hoping that since this was the true route she might some kind of character development outside of her route in this one, but instead she just gets killed off before she can even do anything storywise. Really makes the F/SN Rin comparison people make with Kei seem like an insult to Rin since unlike Kei, Rin not only had character development but also a more active role in the story outside of just in her route

 

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I just finished Tomoyo After (without dunegon minigame) - I played official all-ages enlish release .

I really liked the interactions between all five main characters in "common route" or first chapter - it was really funny. Little Tomo was sweet, and I loved how she urged Tomoyo and Tomoya to "get along" :D Kanako could be little annoying at the beginning, but I actually liked her, and then she grew on me even more, as she is pretty important in later chapters, and does some great things. She shares some personality traits (and a voice ;) ) with Haruka from LB!, whom I also liked.

Love between Tomoyo and Tomoya is great here as well - certainly doesn't lose to Nagisa x Tomoya :)

After reading here and there about bittersweet ending

Spoiler

I was afraid that writers would kill off either Tomoyo or Tomoya, but fortunately it didn't happen - although the epilogue made me anxious right to the end, as it was somewhat ambiguous. But the last screen gave us (and them) finally the hard-earned happy ending.

EDIT: Apparently, he dies in first (pre-Memorial Edition) version. And some folks at kazamatsuri.org interpret current ending the same way - with their reunion from last picture being in afterlife/dreamworld/whatever...

Music and art was beautiful. It was the first VN I played with voiced protagonist - it turned out well too. Translation felt somewhat rougher than Clannad's - and there were few lines I had trouble figuring out - but still it was okay.

Overally - not as great as Clannad itself, but still very good - 8/10

(the score above doesn't account the "Dungeons and Takafumis", as I haven't played that yet)

 

Now, what to read next - Kanon, or perhaps something from different creators for a change of pace, to avoid Key overdose?

 

Edited by adamstan
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Been an while since I ve put something on hold, but I decided to stall out on Noble Works. Its just so.... mediocre. I liked Dracu Riot much more in terms of cast, and story, the setting is more interesting in Dracu Riot, so I've decided to start up Trample on Schatten 

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18 minutes ago, adamstan said:

Now, what to read next - Kanon, or perhaps something from different creators for a change of pace, to avoid Key overdose?

It's depend on you I guess, so there's no absolute answer in regard of this. Although in case you want to read Kanon, perhaps what I can say is that just consider the story was written back at 1999, so it might be cliche. Regardless of whether you'll take a rest from KEY stuff or reading Kanon, have fun on that later.

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I'm not turned off by cliches, so I should be OK with Kanon ;)

However, I think that now I may dive again into ancient times, and read San Shimai. I liked Sakura no Kisetsu, and this seems to be its close counterpart, made around the same time and using the same engine (although localized 3 years later, in 1999) - and they even share some backgrounds (like classroom or school yard) which is little surprising considering they have different developers*. Of course I'm going for DOS version again ;)

As a sidenote to my above TA review:

Spoiler

It seems, that most agree that Tomoya dies in each version :(   Damn you Key, where did KeyMagic TM go when it's most needed?

 

*now i see - one is made by "TIARE" and other by "JAST", but they both were just branches/brands of JAST Co.

Edited by adamstan
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Due to my PC not working for a few days ....... and due to me getting it working again temporarily, just so I can research and get an upgraded build ....... I'm basically not reading VN's for the time being.

Thus my playthrough of Muv-Luv is Stalled. I wasn't very far into it at least.

I'll promptly begin reading again on my new build.

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...and done with San Shimai. That was quick ;)

It's probably because it is closer to typical adventure game than VNs, as there are no multiple routes. There's basically one story, with one good ending, and several bad ends. There are also some optional scenes which you can skip.

It was much darker than Sakura no Kisetsu. The plot was actually not bad, even if following some cliches. But not anime/moe cliches, rather b-movies ;) It is also more h-heavy, although some scenes lead to bad end. The number of scenes is probably similar, but since there are no routes, it all happens in single story, so one may get the feeling that the protag fucks around too much, like he was some James Bond or whatever :P  . But there were some emotional moments here and there too.

In true adventure games fashion, bad ends aren't instant - they just change the epilogue you get. So you can trigger one, and then still play thru whole story until it shows.

"Adventure gameplay" aspect was executed better here, with less pointless choices.

Art is similar to Sakura no Kisetsu, it actually shares some assets with it (school backgrounds). I like the character design, following that 90's anime look. As I said when reviewing Sakura no Kisetsu, I'd really like to see some of that style in newer games.

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Spoiler

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Music was really good. Translation is on similar level - ther are some typos, missing words and few mismatched names, but overally it's readable.

Nice hybrid - or transitional work - between VN and text adventure. If you aren't put off by ancient technical limitations - try it. 7/10.

Works well with DOSBox. Unfortunately version that is downloadable from abandonware sites has one h-CG broken - lower half of image is messed up.

Also, web version can be played at Asenheim Project.

Edited by adamstan
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It looks like I have soft spot for old titles ;)

Now I'm reading Mugen Yasoukyoku (Nocturnal Illusion) as I managed to run it inside XP Virtual Machine.

It was one of the first VNs I encountered twenty years ago as a horny teenager (along with True Love and "Paradise Heights" nukige...), but never made it past prologue, and first h-scene - I felt overwhelmed without walkthrough. The only one I finished then was True Love, as it was short. Time to change this, as we have abundance of walkthroughs today ;)

I tried out "renewal" version ported at Asenheim Project website - which uses translation from original Win95 release - and while voice acting is nice, I found out that I prefer graphics and music from original, so I'm sticking with it for now.

Probably will try @Nandemonai's renewal translation patch when it's completed.

Edited by adamstan
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After a much needed break from VNs for studies and other disgusting real life issues, I'm back to this wonderful world :makina: 

So to celebrate I've decided to start Rewrite, which is pretty much the only translated Key VN that I still haven't read. Let's see how it goes.

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33096.jpg

So, I've finished Wagamama High Spec after what feels like an eternity. (Technically I already finished it a few weeks ago, but I was just too lazy to post.) :vinty:

I had already started this in October last year and at that time I finished the common at a rather good pace. The way the protagonist and especially his sister Toa end up in the student council together with Kaoruko and Ashe was actually quite funny. I think the VN did take a lot of inspirations from Yuzusoft, since the sprites are very dynamic with lots of expressions that even change multiple time during a sentence. It's certainly very well done. And the plot arc about Kouki being a secret manga writer and his connection to Kaoruko was also quite amusing. I also appreciate that the VN has several decent support characters with Yukari and Karen in particular being almost more interesting than the main cast.

Unfortunately the VN also shares some weaknesses with Yuzusoft titles - the routes. While I had finished the common route comparably fast, it took me almost half a year to finish just Mihiro's and Ashe's route and I didn't really have the endurance for the others anymore. That's not to say they were bad, just very generic. Even the other heroines matter in the routes, so I guess it's fair to say that they were probably better than many other moege routes I've read. The main problem was more that I wasn't really 'interested' in the heroines. The character designs have a certain childish goofyness that make them cute and entertaining to watch, but lack the maturity I need to get the hots for a girl.
It's also common problem of romance comedy's for me, that the comedy parts takes so much seriousness out of the plot that the actual romance is left without the necessary tension to captivate me. And a certain passion and tension are necessary ingredients for a good romance to me. And I guess partly to blame is also my ongoing moege slump, that makes it harder to stomach generic moege plots than in my earlier VN years.

So in conclusion, I'd say this IS a well done romance comedy with decent art, lots of ero and likable characters. But besides that it doesn't offer a particular outstanding plot like Dracu Riot's action loaded vampire slapstick comedy for example.

Heroine rating: Yukari > Karen > Mihiro = Toa > Ashe > Kaoruko

Overall rating: 6.5/10 (feel free to add a grade if you're more into comedy and the cutesy character designs)

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I've also started Saku Saku, but already stalled it in favor of Hapymaher. To still throw in a few comments about it, it's major selling point is probably the art. The character designs are attractive, although some like Tina are probably a bit too cute for my taste. The artist also put a lot of effort into drawing background characters. I'm not sure when I had the last time the pleasure to see a class room FULL with different students. I think only some older titles like Clannad, Da Capo 2 and Shuffle put so much effort into it.

Anyway, the plot in the common route is kind of ridiculous at first, but the VN kinda makes up for it a bit with some surprisingly good character interactions. Especially the protagonist is actually a rather cynical dude with dry humor. The plot gets somewhat more interesting when some Shinigami start to show up from nowhere. On the other hand, it declines so fast to comedic level that it looses almost its entire appeal. So far my plans are to play Ann's and Yuuri's route and skip the rest.

Didn't progress in Hapymaher far enough yet to really give a qualified comment about it, but so far it's rather promising with its mysterious dream sequences and Maia a really unique and interesting character as mischivous villain. It's not without flaws though, since the pacing is rather slow and Saki kind of annoying. But I really like that it gives more serious vibes for a change and isn't just light comedy. And Yayoi is kind of super hot - her route will certainly be my first. :Chocola:

Edited by ChaosRaven
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I just finished Nocturnal Illusion. Interesting experience.

Again, it's VN in an text adventure game format, but here it works well. There are no routes, but instead you read through each heroine's arc, helping them defeat demons of their past that haunt them. At first glance it might look like a nukige, but it's far from that - I really liked the story, and it wasn't just an excuse for next h-scene (and, actually there aren't THAT many, they just seem packed due to lack of routes). What's more, h-scenes themselves are very nicely intertwined with plot - they aren't just random fucks. While some reviews claim that it still feels like "cheap excuse", they are justified by the rules of the illusionary world the whole story takes place in. After you get to know the story of each heroine, what they went through and how long they were wandering lost and lonely, it isn't suprising that they long for some intimacy and warmth. I have to agree with @Nandemonai:

On 15.11.2017 at 4:50 AM, Nandemonai said:

You can't recall a single case where an explicitly written out consensual sex scene meaningfully developed someone's relationship?  Well, I'll admit they're very very rare.  But I can name two games where this happens off the top of my head: Crescendo and Nocturnal Illusion.  Coincidentally, these two games also actually don't fall into two other common pitraps: 1) the girls' personalities don't disappear during sex (usually replaced with a broken record repeatedly demanding more pizza), and 2) The scenes themselves aren't ridiculously generic.

Yes, the vast majority of the time, sex scenes are there as porn for the players, who can be expected to want to see characters they like get naked.  And honestly, both of these games only manage this feat with one or two scenes.  But they do in fact pull it off.

Indeed, there are some good scenes. There are also some that feel like they had to be there as writers wanted to conform to eroge-standards of the time, exploring all popular hentai fetishes, so sometimes it feels a bit stretched, but nevertheless the game as a whole works.

I think that my favorite arcs were Maya, Yukina, Sari and Misao. By that I don't mean that others were bad, but these stood out for me.  I've come to really like Maya, and actually got smiling everytime I saw her smile in later parts of the game. Misao's relationship with protagonist was really funny. Yukina and Sari - these were pretty sad, but great... And it was a joy to see Yukina smiling after her arc.

Mistress was great character too.

The story is linear, but it branches at the end, when you choose one girl to return to the outside world with you.

I think that my favorite epliogues were Miwako, Sari and Maya. First two were really heartwarming, and third - beacuse I felt some strange connection to Maya, and I think she and Shinichi made great couple. Some epilogues have two variants - happy and bittersweet. For some reason bittersweet Arisa's epilogue made my eyes little wet.

Mistress' happy ending could be considered kind of True End (although officially game doesn't have such), but I'd like it to be little longer, and explain some more. Nevertheless final CG was nice and heartwarming.

I loved art and music - the latter was beautiful, and, at times, I'd say haunting. I also really liked the tune that played during h-scenes. The game, just like the other two oldies I reviewed before, features that oldschool anime-style character design - I loved it. I slightly missed those small random facial animations from JAST's '90s engine used by Season of Sakura nad Three Sisters Story - it was really great feature. Nocturnal Illusion is more static, but I still liked the whole presentation. I actually prefer original PC98/WIN95 art over the remake. Those almost-monochrome dithered backgrounds have certain charm.

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"Adventure" gameplay is smoothest from those three titles, with lowest amount of pointless clicking. Still, while there are no bad ends*, having walkthrough at hand helps to not get stuck and progress the story at decent pace.

Spoiler

*Well, there's one choice in Arisa's arc that can lock you out of either her or Miwako's epilogue, but that's it.

Unfortunately, localization is poor. It feels like whoever was responsible for it, wasn't good with english :( So I'm looking forward to @Nandemonai's retranslation.

Time for the score. This game surprised me - it was much better than I expected, based on my past impressions from the prologue. I think I can give it even 7.5/10 (despite abysmal localization ;) ).

It's a pity that it won't work on newer systems - XP or W98/95 virtual (or physical ;) ) machine is the only way to go. Or web version at  Asenheim Project, but I feel awkward playing VNs in a browser window.

Edited by adamstan
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I just finished Meisou Toshi (Runaway City)

It was disappointing...

It tried to have some plot, but couldn't get away from being just a nukige. The story was boring and characters were bland. Year later TIARE (JAST) got much better, releasing Sakura no Kisetsu, but this was its exact opposite - pure '90s nukige with paper-thin characters and weak plot. And it's completely linear, except for the ending (basically you have to make some choices to avoid bad end), so all choices and whole adventure mechanic means just lots of pointless clicking.

BTW There is one interesting easter egg - while listening to conversations on the street, you can overhear some random guys speaking about Sakura no Kisetsu, even though it wasn't released yet - of course without mentioning the title. They discuss who is the best girl - Reiko, Mio or Aki? And how difficult it is to get Ruri.

Music was good, and the art was decent too, but I'm still disappointed. 5.5/10

Now I think I'll return to Key, and start Kanon.

Edited by adamstan
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I feel a little weird, writing third post in a row, but whatever...

I'm reading Kanon now, and it's good :) Yesterday I finished first route - Nayuki's.

I had one funny experience. At one time I was quite tired and sleepy, so decided to lie down a bit. Then, being half asleep I started to dream about Nayuki  - seeing something like scenes from VN, with my thoughts in a textbox nonetheless. And - not realizing that I'm lying on a sofa, not playing a game, I repeatedly tried to click nonexistent mouse button to advance the story :D

Edited by adamstan
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Finished with Yuzuyu's route from Fureraba after delayed it for long time, and so my obvious objective for Fureraba here should be clearing Misakichi's route seeing that it's the only remaining unfinished route. I'll try to comment on Yuzuyu's route later, but overall my advice is still the same though that if you play Fureraba you better just expect it as normal moege/charage instead of epic story.

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Currently playing Analogue. Dayum the first part with the Override Terminal felt a bit like a Linux shell terminal to me, except that I could only run a few commands on it. Unfortunately, unlike Linux, pressing the up key doesn't actually let me see the previous commands that I had typed so if I misspelt something I gotta type everything again.

Spoiler

analogue.png

Anyways, the vn's quite short, so I'm looking forward to completing it by today.

Edited by wei123
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6 hours ago, wei123 said:

Currently playing Analogue. Dayum the first part with the Override Terminal felt a bit like a Linux shell terminal to me, except that I could only run a few commands on it. Unfortunately, unlike Linux, pressing the up key doesn't actually let me see the previous commands that I had typed so if I misspelt something I gotta type everything again.

  Reveal hidden contents

analogue.png

Anyways, the vn's quite short, so I'm looking forward to completing it by today.

... and I'm done. This has gotta be the fastest I've taken to complete a VN, and the thing is that I actually quite enjoyed it. The OS simulation thing was quite unique and enjoyable and all the logs were pretty interesting to read. Only problems I have with the plot are how 

Spoiler

the Hyun-ae's murder plot was just summarised within a single log instead of actually being expanded on multiple ones, and the somewhat unfinished conclusions in the character routes (I know Hate Plus addresses this but still)

 

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I'm taking a slight break from 12 to play Flowers Dos since I've been awaiting its release with baited breath and an underlining agitation. I love it so far, Erika is my ideal protagonist I find her sarcasm and snarkiness to be refreshing. She really fits to my wavelength. While I liked Shou there were a few times when I found her meekness and timidness to be a bit frustrating. The references are as lit as ever, and I'm once again drawn to its peaceful and steady pace. I think it takes real skill to get a slow pace exactly right. Many vns and stories try but most times they end up being ponderous and aggravating. Flowers gets it right.

Edited by Ranzo
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