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Well, I'm not a native speaker, so I'm not the best person to judge, but not every free flowing conversation has total grammatical accuracy and the translation felt appropriate for me, especially concerning the character interaction. Haven't read a VN without typos yet, didn't reach a critical mass were it would harm my reading experience.

Edited by Ruberick
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15 minutes ago, Ruberick said:

Haven't read a VN without typos yet, didn't reach a critical mass were it would harm my reading experience

The Steam version of Hoshimemo was in a league of its own in that regard. I wouldn't be surprised if the total number of typos exceeded the amount in all other VNs I've read put together. It was plain ridiculous, and also served as solid proof that the localization team really didn't put much effort into their work.

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4 hours ago, Seraphim88 said:

Oh, that's unfortunate. Hopefully, it'll at least be finished by the time Eternal Heart rolls out. (And let's keep our fingers crossed the end result is a good one.)

Well, according to the last Kickstarter update, they encountered some technical difficulties with the patch, so it's still going to take a while before it's finished, sadly.

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On 2019-11-01 at 1:02 AM, Jun Inoue said:

Not gonna lie, slightly troubled about how obsessed Under One Wing is with the trope "all men are potential rapists." Particularly when I'm seeing the MC feeling bothered by not being seen as a potential rapist by one of the characters. Like, wut :vinty:

Not being used to so much fuss about gender separation it was kinda weird at first, but by now I've heard those kinda spiels so many times in VNs that it's hard to be bothered by it particularly.
Although "I might accidentally rape you if we are in the same room" is such a ridicilously explosive statment yet no one ever being suprised by it will never cease to be funny.

Edited by ArgentstR
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2 hours ago, ArgentstR said:

Not being used to so much fuss about gender separation it was kinda weird at first but, by now I've heard those kinda spiels so many times in VNs that it's hard to be bothered by it particularly.
Although "I might accidentally rape you if we are in the same room" is such a ridicilously explosive statment yet no one ever being suprised by it will never cease to be funny.

Yeah, that's the thing. It is a very typical 'joke', as Japan really likes the sexually transgressive comedy, like how they tend to make female characters harass and feel up each other. What sort of surprised me from the VN is that it used this trope, but then refused to move on. They characters have a full conversation on this and, ending it with the classic "well, nothing should really happen, MC looks like a decent human being", the MC then wonders if they do not perceive him as a potential rapist due to not "seeing him as a man", and that he might grow a complex out of this. I felt a bit confused, seeing how much the MC seems to want to be regarded as a potential rapist, and how he equates man = sexual aggressor. I've seen MCs be ok, indifferent, angry, etc. about this, but it might be the first time I see one feeling inadequate for it.

Edited by Jun Inoue
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22157.jpg

Finished Nanairo Reincarnation about a week ago or so. Overall, it was a bit of a so so experience with both, strong highs and lows.

Let's start with the strengths of the title, since it certainly has them. The slice of life and comedy parts are for the most part rather well written, and to a lesser degree the nakige parts too, even though there weren't too many of them. Iyo the nerdy zashiki-warashi house spirit in particular was just brilliant. On the one hand she could be absolutely hilarious and shap-tongued, on the other hand she could also switch to a much more serious tone in the blink of an eye. You could even say she was the true master of the house - nobody knows more than she does.

They also got the overall family-feeling of togetherness rather well through with Iyo, Kotori, Aoi and Fuyou being the solid heart of the cast. The nakige parts were also well done, even though there weren't too many of them and most of them related to Kotori, who was without any doubt the main heroine.

Now to the not so good parts of the VN - and unfortunately there weren't just a few of them. First, the handling of the H-scenes was just awful - for the sake of the story I can just suggest to play without the adult patch. Pretty much all the H-scenes related to the demon characters were enforced and unrelated to any routes. The reasoning for those was also pretty silly and more what you'd expect from a nukige. But even story-wise, there would have been plausible reasons to give you a choice, but for reasons unknown you didn't get that. Especially annoying were the scenes for Iris, a sub-loli character that was so obviously just included as pedo-bait. My personal 'highlight' was the scene that could be labeled as 'dangerous pedophile forces 8 - 10 year old girl into sex against her will' - there wasn't even a 'reason' for that scene.

Next problem were the routes. Technically there were four - for Kotori, Iyo, Yumi and Azusa -, but only the one of Kotori really deserved to be called a route (admittedly, I didn't play Iyo's). But the ones of Yumi and Azusa did only bombard you with H-scenes out of the blue, then break up, continue with Kotori's route and reunite with a final H-scene at the end. I've actually no clue why Yumi and Azusa even got a route - they barely qualified as side characters. The characters that should have had routes are Aoi and Fuyou. My only reasonable explanation for this whole route and H-scene mess is that they ran out of time and budget and tried to shoehorn at least the H-scenes in. It's also a bit odd if a heroine gets a better ending in the route of another heroine than in her own.

And that's unfortunately not all - the plot itself also had some glaring issues. Although the VN had a clear focus on slice of life and comedy with some nakige elements, they got the glorious idea to include some grim-dark murder case in the second half, you'd usually expect from Innocent Grey. I'd be totally fine with that if they'd actually commit to that. However, they somehow tried to mix it up with some of their comedy, making the plot sections in the best case ridiculous and in the worst case tasteless. It already says a lot that they didn't even take the effort to draw a sprite for their main antagonist. But naturally, the resources were there for pervert-san - a minor character that was only included for the lulz. The police was also presented as completely retarded and their little spook-shows to scare the antagonist just embarassing. Pretty much only Kotori managed to give that plot-arc some dignity. 'That' scene did hit home - I give them that.

They should have sticked to what they are good at - slice of life, comedy and light drama - and not dabble in Innocent Grey territory. Imho, the 9-nine series got the slice of life and comedy with plot better done.

Heroine ranking: Iyo > Kotori > Fuyou = Kikyou = Aoi > Yumi = Asuza >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Iris

Overall rating: 6.5/10

If they'd focused more on their strengths, they could have easily gotten a 7+ rating from me. But this was just to uneven for that.

Edited by ChaosRaven
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On 22.10.2019 at 7:49 AM, adamstan said:

Yesterday I discovered interesting thing. Still cannot be fully sure, 'cause I checked only one part, but it looks like MoeNovel stealthily updated Steam edition of If My Heart Had Wings to match Cruise Sign's main part.

(...)

Also, it seems that they revised the translation a bit. It still isn't great, but for example, there are no longer "eyes" instead of "boobs" in the bath scene

I take that all back :(

I'm on Ageha's route now, and did some checking - the translation is as bad, as it was, and there are so many mistranslations that it's not even funny... Many lines are translated in a way that completely reverts their meaning, turning the route into incomprehensible gibberish I remember it was before I dropped it :(

Also, I've been mistaken - the thingy with "eyes" wasn't during bath scene in common route, but at the beginning of Ageha's route, and it's still there.

Spoiler

It happens when Ageha gets all fired up about resurrection of Soaring Club, and Aoi suddenly stares at her chest, while translation says "I found myself suddenly lost in her... eyes"

However, it looks to me like translator didn't do it because of their urge to censor (since word "boobs" appears earlier already), but as a lame attempt at humor.

Edited by adamstan
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Still playing Aokana and now I'm stuck playing through Mashiro's route and damn is this route a fucking choir to play through. Every other girl I've ended up really liking so far but for her I just can't do it.

 

And it is finally over

Overall, it was a truly great vn that had some pretty compelling stories and fucking amazing production values. I mean, the backgrounds, they were sooo detailed!

The routes in order of my enjoyment Misaki>Asuka>Rika> Dead dead last Mashiro

 

Aoi is still the best character out of all of them.

This song really encapsulates the whole vn

 

Edited by Ranzo
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9 hours ago, Ranzo said:

Still playing Aokana and now I'm stuck playing through Mashiro's route and damn is this route a fucking choir to play through. Every other girl I've ended up really liking so far but for her I just can't do it.

 

And it is finally over

Overall, it was a truly great vn that had some pretty compelling stories and fucking amazing production values. I mean, the backgrounds, they were sooo detailed!

The routes in order of my enjoyment Misaki>Asuka>Rika> Dead dead last Mashiro

 

Aoi is still the best character out of all of them.

This song really encapsulates the whole vn

 

How ironic, since the extra CD is an after story for Mashiro as she was top 2 in the popularity polls.

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10 hours ago, Seraphim88 said:

You just replied to a post that's seven years old and was made by someone who's been inactive on these forums for six years. :P
(You probably didn't realize you were actually on the first page of this thread rather than the last one!)

pfft yeah haha I only realized after posting it! xd

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Finally done with Aokana, I usually play VNs in the order of expected worst girl to expected best girl, just so I'll definitely finish it, because the "better routes" are still to come. The setting was pretty good, Flying Circus proved to be a good setpiece to convey the different stories for the girls, at least for the most part.

Spoiler

Started with Asuka and was pretty much on the money there, concerning starting with worst girl. For one it rubbed me the wrong way how she got everyones attention. Sure, I can't blame her, it's not like she demanded it, but they are still playing this sport in a hobby setting and for everyone to get super devoted to just pushing her skill for some reason... Well, didn't like that all that much. It also doesn't help, that her final battle goes completely bonkers with sports anime-esque super techniques that work for whatever reason.

Next I played Misakis Route, but she surprisingly ended up best girl for me. The (actually) similar struggles she and the protagonist went through just lead to the best chemistry and her easy-going attitude and hidden fragility just made her likeable all the way through. The climax for her route also felt much more satisfying, because she actually used relatably unique strategies.

Then I played Rika who became my runner-up. It's a bit less intense and not all plot points seemed to get as much attention as they should/could. For example her blogging and affinity for meat never get more than an inconsequential mention. Still, some quirky traits just balance her character, even if they don't play much of a role. Definitely liked her Route overall.

Lastly I played Mashiros Route who came in third for me. That's kinda by default, since I really disliked Asukas Route. Mashiro had the least focus on Flying Circus in her route, but they replaced it with pretty much nothing interesting. Misunderstanding hijinks, stuff with her parents, she and the protagonist working on their own stuff and so it dragged on for a few hours. Liked her final battle against Misaki though.

This game needed an Aoi Route soooo much. 

Enjoyable read. 7/10

 

Also started playing the Rance games, done with 1, the remake of 2, 3 and halfway through 4.

The writing is often awkward and laconic, but still somehow very likeable. Can see that this kind of character was ahead of its time. Every game improves on the previous one with better features, better systems, better art, better writing, better story. I'm really enjoying going through this series step by step and can't wait to see where it's headed. So, rather than rating a single game, I'm rating the process of going through this up until this point. 7.5/10

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After a long time, I've finally finished reading Fragment's Note 2, the rare mobile-only Japanese VN that actually is a pure visual novel and not some kind of gacha crap. This series is such a weird one that I can never truly make my mind about: it's got a lot of lazy writing, obnoxious pseudo-psychology and the first part got unbearably bloated and repetitive after the main plot got resolved, basically adding a few full hours of dumb drama and pointless fluff after it simply should've ended. I liked the main story in it and at least some of the characters, but then literally skipped through an hour-worth of content in each route to not get bored to death.

The second game has fewer issues with pacing, but is separated into two, basically standalone routes: in Japan they were two different apps, but got merged together for the English release. And these routes are definitely NOT equal. The first one, which the game suggests you to start with, focuses on Shizuku, protagonist's younger step-sister who shares with him the trauma of losing her original family in a plane crash. In the end, they see taking care of each other as the main motivation to keep living and this leads to various unpleasant consequences – including deeply disturbed incest romance. Still, all that wouldn't be so bad, if the girl had any kind of personality, or even visible traits beyond being traumatized and a brocon. The romance feels just as bland as she is and the whole route is pretty much pointless trash. It has some reveals that the second scenario only vaguely explains, but it's really neither necessary to understand everything nor worthwhile to read.

The second route, on the other hand, Yukitsuki's, focuses on the antagonist of the first game as the love interest. She's not a very deep character by any means, but has a bit of personality and context to her (at this point she's something of a reformed villain, burdened by her previous misdeeds). Her story connects the new characters and major plot points to the events of the first game, giving both the new cast and herself proper closure and tying neatly all the loose ends. It builds proper romance instead of the poorly-conceived loli incest plot. If you ever decide to read FN2, go straight to this part, especially because the core structure of the story is essentially the same and many fragments are literally repeated word-for-word between the two routes. The imouto route can just burn in hell.

Assuming Shizuku's route doesn't exist, 6,5/10

Edited by Plk_Lesiak
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