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Played Hoshiori, and as for the common route I think it did good enough job for introducing the heroines while at the same time established the story for the heroines route, especially in regard of Marika. Also since the opening didn't play until the end of the common route, we can say that the common route here would amount to the prologue in any VNs because the timeline for the common route was only eight days, which if this is any VNs would be equal to the prologue. What I can say is that apparently tone work's here decided to adapt this style as their attempt to improve their writing for HatsuKoi, because in HatsuKoi they still use prologue and common route separation like usual VNs (Understandable seeing that they'd test the water back then).

For heroines impression, I think the prologue here was definitely in favor of Marika because in there we got some scenes showing of how Ryousuke (The MC) and Marika bonded before the former moved from Shionagi, although the other girls were got their share though (Natsuki did also quite well to establish herself as Ryousuke's friend). Other than both of Natsuki and Marika, honestly I think the other four were didn't quite getting close to Ryousuke but then again it's still to early for them so I would say that Ryousuke himself will have a lot of time to bond with the other four girls. Or to put it nicely, in prologue here currently Marika here was the closest to Ryousuke here following by Natsuki, then Touko, Sora, Rikka, and Misa. Keep in mind that it's just based on my observation though, so perhaps some users out there might be disagree with me.

As for the renaming feature, Clephas did mention that it took away the enjoyment of MC's character, and the reason I bring this because we could rename our Ryousuke there. What I can say is that the feature itself was more or less just a gimmicky one considering that we could hear voiced Ryousuke's name (Quite often at that), and I think it should be the norm that default name (ie Ryousuke) should be voiced unlike in Dal Segno. I understand that the company couldn't make the characters called MC with the name that the player gave because there's endless possibility of what name that the player might give to the MC, but at least they should make the default name was always voiced in case the player keep the name default. Even Imopara is better than Dal Segno in that departement because one of the heroine managed to call MC's default name voiced (Only once though), and Imopara here is just a nukige whereas Dal Segno is a charage with some routes was in nakige direction.

I think that's all for what I can write in regard of Hoshiori for now.

PS - Forget to say that you didn't need the walkthrough for Hoshori here, because there's only one choice that will determined the route and that choice did have the hint in form of SD graphic that will float (ie if you chose 'Shinozaki', then Marika SD will float at that choice and you'll enter Marika's route).

Edited by littleshogun
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I recently dropped Tsukihime. I started Katawa Shoujo and now I'm thinking of dropping it too.                                                                                                                                    The reason in both instances is simple : They're not deep and it's very hard to immerse myself in them.

I don't know how to describe it better, for example : comparing Tsukihime and Katawa Shoujo to the likes of Fata morgana, Swan Song, Ever17 is like comparing Tom & Jerry to Angel Beats or Naruto.

Am I too spoiled or impatient? Can someone please tell me if Tsukihime or Katawa Shoujo become more interesting towards the middle?

P.S. : I've invested around 6 or 7 hours in Tsukihime and almost 9 hours in Katawa Shoujo.

Edited by Mago Ivo
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7 minutes ago, Mago Ivo said:

I recently dropped Tsukihime. I started Katawa Shoujo and now I'm thinking of dropping it too.                                                                                                                                    The reason in both instances is simple : They're not deep and it's very hard to immerse myself in them.

I don't know how to describe it better, for example : comparing Tsukihime and Katawa Shoujo to the likes of Fata morgana, Swan Song, Ever17 is like comparing Tom & Jerry to Angel Beats or Naruto.

Am I too spoiled or impatient? Can someone please tell me if Tsukihime or Katawa Shoujo become more interesting towards the middle?

P.S. : I've invested around 6 or 7 hours in Tsukihime and almost 9 hours in Katawa Shoujo.

I'm reading Tsukihime right now (I'm on the third route) and I can agree that it starts quite slow. But things does pick up after you met Arcueid in the hotel. You mentioned Naruto, so if you like fights and lots of powers, do wait until the hotel part. The plot also really starts going after that.

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36 minutes ago, Mago Ivo said:

I've invested around 6 or 7 hours in Tsukihime

All people have different reading speeds, so at what part exactly are you right now?

36 minutes ago, Mago Ivo said:

comparing Tsukihime and Katawa Shoujo to the likes of Fata morgana, Swan Song, Ever17 is like comparing Tom & Jerry to Angel Beats or Naruto.

Tsukihime is deeper than Ever17 imo. Also, you know, directly comparing one work of fiction to another is never a good idea, because all of them have different good points.

I'd say, Tsukihime is mostly good for its very well developed fantasy world, engaging action and nice characters. Actually, from what I recall, I didn't particularly like Arcueid's route (and almost dropped it at this point), but the routes after that appealed to me a lot more. On the other hand, it seems like some people fell the opposite way, that Arcueid's route is the best, and the later ones don't really compare to it, so, I don't know.

Edited by Dreamysyu
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I finished Umineko episode 3 and Battler describes just how I feel about the plot ("Dammit! More weird things are happening!") and the mystery ("...I...I-I don't have a clue what's going on anymore...!"). In other words, the whole VN is amazing. I know they are completely different but somehow Umineko constantly reminds me of Twin Peaks in the way everything is always kept kind of vague and further obscured by tons of weird stuff happening that probably adds nothing to solving the mystery but is very entertaining nonetheless. I also picked up some Kate Bush vibes but maybe that's just because the OP sounds a lot like her music. 

I still have a few thoughts on what's happening:

Spoiler

The loophole I noticed in the red statements is that all the statements regarding deaths of characters are in present tense so they could have been different at the time of murder. I don't really know the concrete implications but the statement "Kinzo is dead" and his corpse still always turning up burned beyond recognition (except for his toes which could just be a coverup) just seems weird. 

Also I'm still not convinced Eva is the murderer, at least not in the first two rounds, since she died early on in those ones. Either she has an accomplice who carried on killing people, or she could have faked both having a stake sticking in her brain and having her stomach sliced open, or even the culprit switches each game. I think Nanjo is suspicious since he survives until late on in all three games and every time he dies the VN doesn't explicitely show his death. The second and third game are especially weird in that regard since in the former his "death scene" doesn't fit the order of the stakes chronologically and in the latter you just hear a gun shot next door where he is supposed to be.

 

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Finally I got back to reading VNs - yay :D

As a warmup I read Yukino's afterstory for Hatsukoi 1/1. Sweet and nice. I really liked Yukino as a heroine (osananajimi!) despite her route's flaws, so this was nice addition. My only complaint is about h-scenes. They were okay-ish I guess, but overloaded with "technical details" for my taste. I don't need description of every single move and every single drop of bodily fluids :P It makes the scene tedious/awkward to read. I prefer more "romantic" approach to h-scenes - less technicalities, more feelings - like it was in Koiiro or PrincessEvangile (at least that's the impression I had). Scenes in Hatsukoi afterstories had some feelings in them as well, so they weren't utter crap, but IMHO were unnecessarily stretched by aforementioned details.

 

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Jacopo's actually a really decent / likeable guy in Requiem of Innocence, it makes no sense how he utterly fks up so bad in Fata Morgana other than the writers just demanded it. Kind of like how evil characters are evil for the sake of being evil, 'cept Jacopo ended up being a dumbass for the sake of being a dumbass :shrug:

Still slogging through, but uhhhhhhh i think i'm gonna take a break right here :ph34r:

PoKn7BT.png

 

~~
But yeah, the very long term conclusion b/w Jacopo and Morgana has to be the most tragic thing I've ever witnessed :wafuu:

Spoiler

Requiem of Innocence:

4VNaiFD.png

 

~CENTURIES OF TORMENT AND DESPAIR LATER~

6GGN2Yj.png

RIP JACOPO.

ho17c6b.png

 

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Playing White Album 2 and I expected it to be good, but not this level of good. I couldn't stop reading it since yesterday. Played it straight from morning until I slept and then continued playing again. I finished Introductory chapter within 1 day and holy crap, knowing how it ends from the anime, the prologue hurt my heart. The actual ending in the IC then proceeded to crush my setsuna fan heart to bits. 

Also on CC right now and my setsuna fan heart wavered for Kouhai and Mari but I was not willing to see Setsuna rejected and have a sad ending because Haruki chose another heroine. Just that certain scene from Daitoshokan where you reject a certain someone made me stop playing for a while. Atleast it was just one scene of the game, in WH, it goes out of it's way to show how much you fucked over Setsuna and that doesn't sit well with my fragile heart.

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Well, not currently reading, but I read Flowers -Le volume sur ete- some time ago. I didn't expect to find the story so likable. Protagonist really clicked with me, just the right amount of snark.

Before that I read Demonheart, a western otome novel. I quite enjoyed it, I've always had a thing for settings which involve demons. Quite well written, has nice voice acting, and the art is just beatiful. Will definitely pick up the sequel even though it goes back to its roots as a RPG(Demonheart was originally a series of NWN modules).

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I finished Kara no Shoujo yesterday - still have to get some of the bad ends, but it was probably one of the best VNs I played so far. And that KnS 2 is even better...well that excites me infinitely. Currently/today I am planning to play through the Demo of Softhouse Charas new Koikuma Game (悪魔聖女) and later this one https://vndb.org/v21768

 

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428 Shibuya Scramble - First Thoughts (No Spoilers)
Finally, 428 Shibuya Scramble has been released in ENGLISH! I remember this being quite high on my wish list because of its many endings. Initially, I was disappointed to find out that it only had so many endings because they were Bad Ends, but after playing it a little bit, the bad endings were actually meaty enough that they weren't just some superficial "You Died" game over screen like many of the bad ends in Corpse Party: Blood Drive. If anything, these endings bear more resemblance to School Days' format, though SD obviously still triumphs in terms of the amount of endings and branches.

And having devoted quite a few days into this game, I must admit... I became quite addicted. I mean, it's strange, because I prefer visual novels with lots of branches like Clannad and School Days, but there's a satisfying feeling of piecing together the proper route to continue the story. That feeling just kept me playing, making this novel a real page-turner, especially when the intensity of the mystery keeps ascending to new heights, each time block adding new and shocking twists. But most of all, I think the characters being this interesting really helped keeping me glued.

When it comes to the characters, admittedly, a few of them were a little bit dull at first. Osawa was the one I initially thought I wouldn't really care about, but his comedic banter with Kajiwara and his emotional love for his children did win me over quickly. Plus, his story added that ominous and sinister atmosphere such an intense mystery needed. I also thought Kano's story would have been blend as well, considering he's just your average shounen protagonist (hot-headed, reckless, has a good heart), but I still couldn't help but be won over by his earnestness in wanting to do the right thing, and his naivety getting the better of him was an interesting subversion as well not commonly seen in shounen stories, with his colleagues calling out on his foolishness. Kano's story also picked up a lot near the end, making me more invested and interested in his route. I really enjoyed his character growth over the course of the story, how he mellowed over time and became more self-aware.

Then there's Tama, my favorite route at the beginning because... well, she's a cute cat. The costume was adorable, especially that cute little dance she does in the character selection screen. There's not a lot I could share about Tama without spoiling anything, but I'll say her route's a lot of fun, keeping things light amidst all the intensity. It's a real shame when her story ended, however. I was so surprised it ended so early because I wanted to see more of her story. Minorikawa is probably my third favorite character, ranking just behind Tama and Kano respectively. All stories like these need a witty comic relief, and he was it. Plus, his route had quite a few tearjerking moments too due to characters he interviewed opening up to him (Yanagishita's confession really got to me).

There are a few peeves I had, but they're mostly minor in nature. For starters, Achi was my least favorite character. There's nothing inherently wrong with his character, but he just didn't feel as unique, even when compared to Kano, whom I had expected to be the generic anime protagonist. I guess it's because he didn't grow much, maybe? His character arc is largely consisted of protecting that someone, so it got kinda old quite fast due to the lack of variety. I would've preferred to see him dealt with the S.O.S. a lot more.

Then there's the gameplay. I bear a love/hate sentiment towards the gameplay. On one hand, the incorporation of the butterfly effect into the gameplay was a lot of fun, because your choices will have a lot more impact on the story, which is why I highly recommend not to follow the walkthrough on Fuwanovel during your first playthrough of each time block. What this means is that for each time block (13:00-14:00, 14:00-15:00, etc.), just play it through and picking whatever options you like at first, and only refer to the walkthrough when you get stuck in trying to complete each entire time block. I say this because I felt like I lost that sense of intensity and interaction when I played it with a walkthrough. My choices didn't feel as important when I could just refer to some game guide. So yeah, don't do that.

That said, the complexity of such a gameplay does lead to annoyances. Quite a number of the "cause-and-effect" are kinda... absurd. Certain actions that you pick have consequences that are arbitrary and would probably only happen in real life due to a stroke of bad luck, so it did break the immersion a little bit. I don't mind the joke endings because they can be kinda funny (except C.A.T.S. maybe; that one felt dumb), but arbitrary consequences that lead to bad ends can make me face-palm a few times. Thankfully, these were few and far between.

Finally, there's the music. A few of these can be annoying when they're on a loop, but some of the more emotional ones like "Echo" and "Hope" were good enough that the soundtrack deserves a listen. Good music can really amplify tearjerkers up to eleven, and Hideki Sakamoto has done a good job in his composition here. I also enjoyed Tama's theme a lot. It's peaceful and relaxing, which felt fitting for her adorable cat persona but then turned oddly surprising when you find out about her real personality later on. lol

I haven't quite finished the entire game yet (currently in the midst of the 17:00-18:00 block), but I'm already lamenting that the story is coming to an end. It felt kinda short, to be honest, since I managed to almost complete it in a number of days, but I could understand why due its live-action sequences, which looked expensive to make for a visual novel (especially when you consider that the acting seems professional). Still, it's kinda a shame. I wouldn't mind playing a whole week of this. lol The intensity, the drama, the twists and turns, and me piecing together all of that in hopes that people could be saved; man, it's a blast. Drama like this just feels a lot more fun when you're a part of it. I don't think I would be as addicted if there were either no choices, or if this was just an ordinary TV drama.

Parting Note: I know there's an anime sequel for this game, which I've already added to my Plan-to-Watch list on MyAnimeList, but I highly doubt I would have as much fun due to me being a passive viewer instead of an active player in moving things along. Still, I suppose it's worth checking out. Accidentally found out about the anime's premise just a few hours ago, so I kinda spoiled myself a little bit on how 428 is likely going to end. Oh well. That's why you shouldn't read anything about the VN you're reading online, folks. After this is over, I think I might just hop on over to Kara no Shoujou since I heard it's also a thriller mystery with many choices and bad ends.

Just one more thing. I know that this VN was untranslated for a long time 'till Steam came along (or Spike Chunsoft, I guess) and make it accessible for everyone else. It's nice to see that VNs like this are given proper translations nowadays thanks to the effort of larger companies (as opposed to independent fan-patches), and reading works that were previously inaccessible or not fully translated like Muv-Luv and Kimi Nozo is now a reality. Really can't wait for that latter title to be translated, actually, especially when I heard how massive the game was and how many routes and branches it has.

Edited by LemiusK
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1 hour ago, LemiusK said:

Parting Note: I know there's an anime sequel for this game, which I've already added to my Plan-to-Watch list on MyAnimeList, but I highly doubt I would have as much fun due to me being a passive viewer instead of an active player in moving things along. Still, I suppose it's worth checking out. Accidentally found out about the anime's premise just a few hours ago, so I kinda spoiled myself a little bit on how 428 is likely going to end. Oh well. That's why you shouldn't read anything about the VN you're reading online, folks.

I made the same mistake as you (googling the anime before I even completed the game), but I can assure you that I enjoyed the ending nonetheless.

1 hour ago, LemiusK said:

After this is over, I think I might just hop on over to Kara no Shoujou since I heard it's also a thriller mystery with many choices and bad ends.

KnS is more of a thriller-utsuge, with the mystery part being almost non-existent, since the murderers are very easy to predict. It's still a very good read though, so I wish you all the best (in holding back your tears)! Oh, and before I forget, it is probably recommended (but not compulsory) to have completed Cartagra first, since it provides some context for the story in KnS.

1 hour ago, LemiusK said:

Just one more thing. I know that this VN was untranslated for a long time 'till Steam came along (or Spike Chunsoft, I guess) and make it accessible for everyone else. It's nice to see that VNs like this are given proper translations nowadays thanks to the effort of larger companies (as opposed to independent fan-patches), and reading works that were previously inaccessible or not fully translated like Muv-Luv and Kimi Nozo is now a reality. Really can't wait for that latter title to be translated, actually, especially when I heard how massive the game was and how many routes and branches it has.

Yeah me too, but I think the Muv Luv Photon series has to at least be first released before any real progress can be made.

Edited by wei123
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30 minutes ago, wei123 said:

KnS is more of a thriller-utsuge, with the mystery part being almost non-existent, since the murderers are very easy to predict. It's still a very good read though, so I wish you all the best (in holding back your tears)! Oh, and before I forget, it is probably recommended (but not compulsory) to have completed Cartagra first, since it provides some context for the story in KnS.

Thanks! I'll be sure to check out Cartagra first.

Oh god, almost finished the 17:00-18:00 block of the game but... dammit. I cried so much. Three times, in fact. I wonder if I'll have enough tears left for KnS. lol I didn't expect how emotional 428 would be but dammit. That sad violin music really didn't help. The strong character writing for even the minor side characters really, really didn't help either. And this is coming from a VN without voice! Through the live action images and the heartfelt music alone, the VN could pull off such a feat is nothing short of amazing. I might leave a rating of 10/10 for this one. Superb experience.

Edited by LemiusK
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I've been trying to continue with The Fruit of Grisaia but tbh I am not really enjoying it for some reason, and whenever I try and read, I find my mind wandering and I wind up doing something else after only 20 or so minutes. I really don't know what the cause is though and it's disappointing considering I'd been looking forward to reading the VN for quite a while. To try and get past this I've decided to stop reading for a bit and get back into Majikoi. I've already finished the Miyako and Chris routes, though my saves for those got eaten somehow, so I'm doing the Kazuko route. I'm going to do Momoyo next then Mayucchi, then redo Chris and Miyako. I'd forgotten how funny and relaxing it is - I just decided to read it on a whim last night and already I've spent maybe 2 and a half hours reading it. The characters are great and it just somehow manages to be fun to read and keep me engaged. Hopefully the route winds up being a good one.

 

Edited by snowbell55
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1 hour ago, snowbell55 said:

I'd forgotten how funny and relaxing it is - I just decided to read it on a whim last night and already I've spent maybe 2 and a half hours reading it. The characters are great and it just somehow manages to be fun to read and keep me engaged. Hopefully the route winds up being a good one.

Yeah, after a while I really got used to them, like they were my friends too, or like I was one of them. Very nice atmosphere. True route is great as well. As for girls - all were nice, but I think I loved Miyako the most :)

 

But, after some time I started to skip some parts of the H-scenes, as they started to be somewhat tiring. They went a little over the top with them for my taste ;) But still, I rate Majikoi very high. I'm curious how will JAST's localization turn out.

Edited by adamstan
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11 hours ago, adamstan said:

Yeah, after a while I really got used to them, like they were my friends too, or like I was one of them. Very nice atmosphere. True route is great as well. As for girls - all were nice, but I think I loved Miyako the most :)

 

But, after some time I started to skip some parts of the H-scenes, as they started to be somewhat tiring. They went a little over the top with them for my taste ;) But still, I rate Majikoi very high. I'm curious how will JAST's localization turn out.

Yeah exactly! :D. They really nailed the atmosphere. Have you read S or any of the fandiscs? Hahaha good choice. I'm partial to Miyako as well (though she's a bit crazy XD) though Chris isn't so far behind. Still waiting to see what the other routes are like but somehow the characters are consistently well done and none of them really feel like supporting characters, even if they only show up every now and then. 

And OMG - the scene where (Kazuko route spoilers)

Spoiler

Kuki, Yamato, and Gen-san confess to Kazuko! Bahahahahaha! I was expecting some heartfelt confession but this is completely ridiculous and hilarious and it's like something out of a daytime soap opera hahahahaha. And then the bit about vegetable juice!

My sides! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! I've been laughing for about 5 minutes straight and it's *still* funny :D.

Edited by snowbell55
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Sigh. Just got to the R18 scene of Muv-Luv Alternative...

Sigh. Sigh. Should really have stuck with the All-Ages version. This is just so damn stupid.

I mean, I've seen my share of hentai, so I'm not squeamish or anything, but it does break the immersion. Makes it all feel like one big parody.

You know, if I didn't know any better, I would've thought Nasu was the one who wrote this, given how Heaven's Feel turned out. Guess the rumor that many Japanese VN writers are closet perverts isn't that far from the truth.

Personally, I hate censorship for the most parts, but in some cases, I would actually favor the All-Ages version when the sexual parts don't add anything to the story (Key's VNs like Clannad comes to mind), or when they even detract from the story. This is definitely one of those cases.

Edited by LemiusK
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12 minutes ago, LemiusK said:

Sigh. Just got to the R18 scene of Muv-Luv Alternative...

Sigh. Sigh. Should really have stuck with the All-Ages version. This is just so damn stupid.

I mean, I've seen my share of hentai, so I'm not squeamish or anything, but it does break the immersion. Makes it all feel like one big parody.

Yup, I remember when I got to that part I felt pretty much the same, and wrote a very similar post to yours. I've actually read both the All Ages and the 18+ version of that scene, and yeah, I probably prefer the all ages version not because it shows less, but just because it feels a lot less over the top. 

On a side note, I believe it's probably because we've seen our share of messed up hentai that the scene felt like a parody to us :makina: I've heard that to other people it just felt like a very disgusting scene and didn't break the immersion at all. 

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