What are you playing?

[Vorathiel]

I tried Killer Queen. I love 'trapped' setting, so although grades are rather poor, I though I will have some fun with this. I'm at the end of first 'chapter/route', and I'm so bored and tired, that I just ended this for today. It's like Sharin No Kuni level of how bad it is. Characters motivations are stupid and unreasonable, their actions are angryingly stupid and surprising on 'how the hell did you even think this could work' level, their behaviour is non coherent at all, and overall plot is filled with cheap drama with 'pathophathetic' music. Even the main character is similiar. Just look at this Mummin:

Spoiler

And now at this pathetic hollow creature no 2:

Even their characters are similiar.

What else? Sprites are ugly, backgrounds are ugly, music is bad, translations is nice, setting is good (really interesting rules of this 'killing game'), protagonist is not very cliched, but obviously later ruined to fit with 'standard good guy' trope, and whole vn is longer than 10 hours, even when you're fast reader. Would not recommend to anyone.

[Eclipsed]

Lord, I shall repent for my sins of stalling Tokyo Babel by un-stalling it...in the near future.

~~
I previewed Norn9 Var Commons.

Coming in hot with the Otome hype train, let's just say that the first impressions of this VN storywise are not good. The art and music on the other hand are good. Art definitely isn't Code:Realize tier, but it's charming enough. The music is Fantasy-Surreal sounding, which I have a bias for, so it beats Code Realize in this department  

The Prologue is some 30 minutes snorefest of a 12 year old boy named Sorata, a realist type of kid who swears by science-explains-all logic narrating his average school life

Spoiler

WELL SCREW YOU, YOU'RE FICTION!!!!

He then mysteriously gets thrown into the past a century into Taisho Era (year 191X) after hearing some gal singing in his head.

Then he meets a pink haired 17 year old girl who doesn't know her own name and is the caring-but-lacking-common sense type -> she's one of the three protagonists

They board some alien ship thing and then you get slapped with introducing the nine heroes, and the other two female protagonists. TOO MANY NAMES, I CANT HANDLE

Spoiler

They're all Espers, y'know, magic power people, and they're a part of The World - a world-police type organization. And the pink haired girl is the new recruit, and Sorata just happened along for the ride. Being the realist that he is, he quietly laments to himself that he can't wait to wake up and resume his normal life. Of course, that ain't happening

 -Prologue End-

~~
It's only 30 minutes, but it was a poor 30 minutes because of the decision to have Sorata (he's ultimately a side character) narrate it and the sudden transition from Hi I have normal life to OMG ESPERS, TIME TRAVEL AND FLYING SAUCERS along with introducing the entire 12-man cast right off the bat.

But hey, at least it's not as bad in comparison to KnS2's 5 hour grind you had to do before the real story started

WHY COULDN'T I JUST START WITH THIS INSTEAD OF HAVING TO DEAL WITH THAT BS 12-YEAR-OLD-KID-BEING-THROWN-INTO-WONDERLAND SETUP

[melo4496]

Finished Leyline2. Subarashii! Well-played! Love the scenario. I won't go to the 3rd game yet. I need time to "miss" the characters for better effect lol maybe after few months. Adelheid's chapter is good but Fuhito's chapter sucks alot and is unnecessary.

Heck, the climax and true ending of the game is OUTSTANDING.

Have some CG!

[Zantax]

Well, I finished Hoshizora no Memoria: Eternal Heart over a week ago, so I guess I should finally write come kind of opinion about it...

I often read on this forum, that the bonus disc is where we can finally find a proper Mare route. Well, if bunch of random ichaicha and ero scenes without any plot, which is just a lengthen version of orginal Mare 'route' can be called a 'proper' route that is... But but, someone could say, what about Ima. There is a good bunch of plot about her in Mare route! And I would answer, yes, you are right, but I wanted Mare route, not Ima route with misplaced route selection grafics. Ima plot have almost nothing to do with Mare or protagonist, and even if I would liked it (but I didn't) I wouldn't be satisfied.

Also I realised one thing - Mare is just not a character, with whom romance do work :/ It's just awkward when in one scene you see MC patting Mare head treating her like a child, and next scene having sex with her :/ I just can't see her as a romance target. She work much better as a support little sister character (that she is in every other route).

In bonus disc we have also Yume route, and at least this time it really feels like a proper route. I did liked that instead of continuing school life we see time after graduation, including

Spoiler

marriage and childbirth (even if Mare being child of Yume don't make much sense... should I threat this as a reincarnation or what? :/)

 While this route wasn't anything great (especially part with meteorite searching was quite bad) at least it had plot that moved forward characters relations, what can't be said about Mare 'route'

That's all if we talking about routes, but there are also very short 'afterstory' bonus (1-2 hours of reading) for every other heroine. They are mostly meh, but personally I liked Asuho and Komomo bonuses (which was rather unexpected, since in original game I liked Asuho route the least). After some thought I think it's because those two bonuses pushes relationship forward at least a little bit, while the others are just repeating the final point of original routes.

At the end while it wasn't terrible or anything, it isn't really worth reading for anyone but the biggest Hoshimemo fans. If you want more Yume then you could read this, if you want more Mare then just get new CGs (there are not that many) and reread common route of original game.

[Riku]

Finished Root Double. Was great, but not awesome. My "only problem" is the dual protagonist thingy. As important as Watase is, in the end, Natsuhiko is obviously the main one and the most important. But well, all the characters are fairly importants, so at least it's a plus. Just that I prefered Watase over Natsuhiko and was a little disapointed.

I liked Watase's ending. I didn't really like Natsuhiko's ending.

Oh, and as much as I prefer Mashiro over Yuuri, that CG was ******* beautiful:

Spoiler

Now I guess I'll try to read Tokyo Babel again. I hope it will becomes interesting after a few hours.

 

[bogdankl]

fate/stay night rant

 

Spoiler

did fate/stay night seriously TURN INTO A FUCKING GARBAGE NUKIGE half way through??? what the fuck is this shit, the vn was actually unexpectedly engaging until now especially the last part where archer went out like a fucking badass, BUT WHY IN THE HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK did it go in this direction??? I refuse to read any further I FUCKING REFUSE... and why the hell did the fucking voice acting stop all of a sudden??? when the voice acting cut off I taught they were gonna pull a sort of "oh hes just dreaming" sort of thing but no, it has an actual fucking CG designed for this so I doubt he is dreaming... seriously what the shit, this is so fucking ridiculous

 

[Fred the Barber]

3 minutes ago, bogdankl said:

fate/stay night rant

 

  Hide contents

did fate/stay night seriously TURN INTO A FUCKING GARBAGE NUKIGE half way through??? what the fuck is this shit, the vn was actually unexpectedly engaging until now especially the last part where archer went out like a fucking badass, BUT WHY IN THE HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK did it go in this direction??? I refuse to read any further I FUCKING REFUSE... and why the hell did the fucking voice acting stop all of a sudden??? when the voice acting cut off I taught they were gonna pull a sort of "oh hes just dreaming" sort of thing but no, it has an actual fucking CG designed for this so I doubt he is dreaming... seriously what the shit, this is so fucking ridiculous

 

Spoiler

Umm... there's like two sex scenes in the whole Fate route. Chill out, dude. It's an eroge, but it's far from a nukige.

The voice cutting out is easily explained, also: the H scenes are only present in vanilla F/SN, while the voice acting is only present in the "Realta Nua" release made for the PS/Vita which, of course, didn't have H-scenes. You actually can only have the experience you're having right now because you pirated the game and the patch applied the Realta Nua voices onto the vanilla F/SN game. So... don't worry, nobody actually released exactly the bizarre game you're playing.

I played the vanilla release, so there were H scenes, but no voice acting. I'd probably rather have had it the other way around, voice acting and no H, but whatevs.

 

[Suzu Fanatic]

1 hour ago, bogdankl said:

fate/stay night rant

 

  Reveal hidden contents

did fate/stay night seriously TURN INTO A FUCKING GARBAGE NUKIGE half way through??? what the fuck is this shit, the vn was actually unexpectedly engaging until now especially the last part where archer went out like a fucking badass, BUT WHY IN THE HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK did it go in this direction??? I refuse to read any further I FUCKING REFUSE... and why the hell did the fucking voice acting stop all of a sudden??? when the voice acting cut off I taught they were gonna pull a sort of "oh hes just dreaming" sort of thing but no, it has an actual fucking CG designed for this so I doubt he is dreaming... seriously what the shit, this is so fucking ridiculous

 

Spoiler

 

It was ONE sex scene, that hardly counts as a nukige. I can garuntee you that sex is a very small part of F/SN. Each route has a handful of it, but hardly enough to freak out about. Don't forget, at it's core F/SN is classified as a Eroge - but don't make a blind assumption that it's going to turn into some retarded Imouto Paradise spin-off just from the odd sex scene.

Though I will admit I found the first sex scene to be pretty jarring too - i had completely forgotten it was a eroge until it came up, due to how engrossing it was up to that point. But that being said, I didn't hate the hscenes - but I'm also a dirty old man.

I will say this - if you drop this VN jsut becuase of the odd sex scene, you are doing yourself a major disservice. While not everyone subscribes to the Fate hype - there's a damn good reason it has such a huge fandom.

 

 

[Decay]

1 hour ago, bogdankl said:

fate/stay night rant

 

  Reveal hidden contents

did fate/stay night seriously TURN INTO A FUCKING GARBAGE NUKIGE half way through??? what the fuck is this shit, the vn was actually unexpectedly engaging until now especially the last part where archer went out like a fucking badass, BUT WHY IN THE HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK did it go in this direction??? I refuse to read any further I FUCKING REFUSE... and why the hell did the fucking voice acting stop all of a sudden??? when the voice acting cut off I taught they were gonna pull a sort of "oh hes just dreaming" sort of thing but no, it has an actual fucking CG designed for this so I doubt he is dreaming... seriously what the shit, this is so fucking ridiculous

 

Joke's on you for not playing the Realta Nua version. There are some crazy people on the internet who constantly try to say that the Realta Nua version isn't as good because it lacks the 18+ content and I just find that perspective so baffling when I consider how unimaginably bad the h-scenes are, to the point where they are actively destructive to the overall story. The Realta Nua version is the superior version by far and with the rewrites they did, it's also considered the canon version by Type Moon.

Basically, what I'm saying is that you're playing the crazy, outdated version abandoned by the developers. If you liked Fate so far, you should get the real version and keep going, you'll continue to really enjoy it. It only gets better.

[Suzu Fanatic]

35 minutes ago, Decay said:

Joke's on you for not playing the Realta Nua version. There are some crazy people on the internet who constantly try to say that the Realta Nua version isn't as good because it lacks the 18+ content and I just find that perspective so baffling when I consider how unimaginably bad the h-scenes are, to the point where they are actively destructive to the overall story. The Realta Nua version is the superior version by far and with the rewrites they did, it's also considered the canon version by Type Moon.

Basically, what I'm saying is that you're playing the crazy, outdated version abandoned by the developers. If you liked Fate so far, you should get the real version and keep going, you'll continue to really enjoy it. It only gets better.

 

Spoiler

I'd tentively agree with you for at least Fate and UBW, but I can't imagine HF working with sexuality missing. Subjectively speaking, I just can't see it having the same vibe - for reasons I'll avoid due to obvious spoilers.

Though I'm one of those crazy people that never found the h-scenes that bad. Pointless? yes, but not bad. But then again I first played it only expecting another eroge (ie, porn), so it was a big surprise to actually have story outweigh the eroge by such a huge margin.

And while a completely personal opinion, I despise most of the Realta Nua remixes of music (both ps2 and psp), most come across as overly busy and complicated, where the original tracks felt genuine and balanced. (but that's likely nostilgia/rose-tinted glasses)

Also, it doesn't matter what Type-Moon "wants" to consider canon. Retconning doesn't wipe out the initial concept and vision. Even if Nasu himself changes his mind, it already exists.

 

[Eclipsed]

I'll get back to Norn9 Var Commons some other time, Code:Realize just set the bar too high, resulting in me being a prick and expecting too much out of it.

SO!

Back to Tokyo Babel. Apparently I last left off at the second stratum post-Abdiel battle, gg, that's not even far

[bogdankl]

guys I am not complaining that there is a H scene

Spoiler

I just think the premise is worthy of a nukige, I mean like come on (no pun intended) sex to power her up, and Rin just jumps on to hump Shirou Saber after archer just died??? I am the only one that finds this just a taaaaad bit weird, don't you guys just find that to be at least a tad bit ridiculous? just like... a tiny bit nukige like

I love myself some good "H scenes" (if there is even such a thing) but the reason and timing for this scene is just ridiculous, which is why I was thinking this was some sort of dream or illusion

and even if there were a H scene free version I would have still picked this one

and when I wrote that post It was half past 4 in the morning I was just pissed and raging at how stupid it was, I won't just quit reading half way through but that does not mean I am gonna like it

well.... I say nukige like but it's not like I have that much experience with them, I just think this a ridiculous stain on an otherwise good vn

[Vokoca]

Nasu's h-scenes are... well, infamously bad, but I prefer HF with them, most likely for the same reasons Suzu mentioned above. I didn't read Realta Nua so I can't really judge, but from what I read up on the HF rewrites, it just doesn't seem to cut it for me. 

[Decay]

1 hour ago, bogdankl said:

guys I am not complaining that there is a H scene

  Reveal hidden contents

I just think the premise is worthy of a nukige, I mean like come on (no pun intended) sex to power her up, and Rin just jumps on to hump Shirou Saber after archer just died??? I am the only one that finds this just a taaaaad bit weird, don't you guys just find that to be at least a tad bit ridiculous? just like... a tiny bit nukige like

I love myself some good "H scenes" (if there is even such a thing) but the reason and timing for this scene is just ridiculous, which is why I was thinking this was some sort of dream or illusion

and even if there were a H scene free version I would have still picked this one

and when I wrote that post It was half past 4 in the morning I was just pissed and raging at how stupid it was, I won't just quit reading half way through but that does not mean I am gonna like it

well.... I say nukige like but it's not like I have that much experience with them, I just think this a ridiculous stain on an otherwise good vn

No, I totally understand and agree 100%, which is why I was trying to recommend the better version that rewrote those ridiculous parts of story to be a bit less stupid.

[Fred the Barber]

4 hours ago, bogdankl said:

guys I am not complaining that there is a H scene

  Reveal hidden contents

I just think the premise is worthy of a nukige, I mean like come on (no pun intended) sex to power her up, and Rin just jumps on to hump Shirou Saber after archer just died??? I am the only one that finds this just a taaaaad bit weird, don't you guys just find that to be at least a tad bit ridiculous? just like... a tiny bit nukige like

I love myself some good "H scenes" (if there is even such a thing) but the reason and timing for this scene is just ridiculous, which is why I was thinking this was some sort of dream or illusion

and even if there were a H scene free version I would have still picked this one

and when I wrote that post It was half past 4 in the morning I was just pissed and raging at how stupid it was, I won't just quit reading half way through but that does not mean I am gonna like it

well.... I say nukige like but it's not like I have that much experience with them, I just think this a ridiculous stain on an otherwise good vn

I also kind of agreed with you. In retrospect, I would've rather played the Realta Nua version. Though I do have to agree with Suzu's point about the HF route. I can't really see it working as well without the sex scenes. But in Fate and UBW, they're totally unnecessary, that first Fate one is very unreasonable in context, and they're all not very good (lack of voice acting isn't helping any).

[bogdankl]

why are all protagonists from vn's so thick???

Spoiler

this guy wants to win the holy grail war but doesn't have a wish? why the hell does he agonize over sabers fate, just wish for her to remain in your time and there, problem solved... Jesus Christ I haven't seen a protagonist so thick since Kotarou at the climax of Lucia's route in rewrite

 

wait so the holy grail can grant any wish... except the wish he needs?? I call false advertising on that

 

[Canicheslayer]

On 11/05/2016 at 7:57 PM, Riku said:

Finished Root Double. Was great, but not awesome. [...]

Same as Riku : Finished RD. It was cool but not as mindblowing as I thought (probably a problem of writing ). Otherwise, I stopped (and uninstalled) Tokyo Babel. Really, I don't know why but I'm not in the mood for this My next VN(s) will be Tsukihime (my second attempt), Tears of Tiara II, Kara no Shoujo 2 and/or...Norn9 (and not Code: Realize...I saved the best (otome) for last)

[Riku]

43 minutes ago, Canicheslayer said:

Same as Riku : Finished RD. It was cool but not as mindblowing as I thought (probably a problem of writing ). Otherwise, I stopped (and uninstalled) Tokyo Babel. Really, I don't know why but I'm not in the mood for this My next VN(s) will be Tsukihime (my second attempt), Tears of Tiara II, Kara no Shoujo 2 and/or...Norn9 (and not Code: Realize...I saved the best (otome) for last)

Tears to Tiara II is freaking long. Took me 6 days of intense playing and 75h.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[Darklord Rooke]

6 minutes ago, Riku said:

Tears to Tiara II is freaking long. Took me 6 days of intense playing and 75h.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Still need to play Tears to Tiara II. It's been on my backlog for a long time now ...

[Canicheslayer]

9 minutes ago, Riku said:

Tears to Tiara II is freaking long. Took me 6 days of intense playing and 75h.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

 Yeah, I know it's very long...and it's a Tactical-RPG (except Shining Force, It's not my cup of tea). I am a little hesitant to start it immediately...even if the story looks awesome 

precision : It's Tsukihime OR Tears of Tiara OR KnS2 AND/OR Norn 9 (AND because my poor PSVITA needs attention). My Mistake

[Suzu Fanatic]

2 hours ago, bogdankl said:

why are all protagonists from vn's so thick???

  Hide contents

this guy wants to win the holy grail war but doesn't have a wish? why the hell does he agonize over sabers fate, just wish for her to remain in your time and there, problem solved... Jesus Christ I haven't seen a protagonist so thick since Kotarou at the climax of Lucia's route in rewrite

 

wait so the holy grail can grant any wish... except the wish he needs?? I call false advertising on that

 

 

Spoiler

Even if it could, would that really be reasonable? What about what Saber wishes for? Making a wish that only affects yourself is one thing, but to make a wish that affects another (without their consent, anyway) is pretty selfish. I don't think he's being "thick" in this particular situation - he's simply torn between what he wants, and what is right. That being said, keep reading, unless you locked yourself into a badend, the story is still good.

By the time you read this, you'll likely have a better grasp of the situation anyway~

 

 

One thing I just considered about h-scenes in Fate route:
(kinda spoiler, and speculation)

Spoiler

The first hscene was a bit "lol wut", even I can admit that. But the second, between just Saber and Shirou - felt proper for the situation. It was the only way they could show any sort of romantic affection, by pretending it was just to "provide mana". Both knew it was just a excuse, but for their reasons, they wore that mask in order to stay resolved. Without that scene, both would have been frustratingly denied any kind of affection. The obvious way of putting it: "Their bodies can say what they themselves would not."

 

Sure, we can start to debate the importance (or lack of) of sexual relations with a loved one, and that love doesn't require such things to convey feelings; but after all is said and done, making love is one of the most satisfying - and honest methods to convey your heart. (under the assumption that emotions are involved, anyway )

 

[Chuee]

12 hours ago, Decay said:

No, I totally understand and agree 100%, which is why I was trying to recommend the better version that rewrote those ridiculous parts of story to be a bit less stupid.

Eh, I feel like the replacements were still just as silly. What, the magical dolphins swimming around when Rin and Shirou touch each other, after she removes one article of clothing just to make things awkward? As abrupt as they are, the replacement still ends up seeming abrupt since what they give up instead is something a lot more import than one's virginity. As silly as the scenes are, though, I have to admit it isn't all that silly to imagine that you could transfer mana through bodily fluids (including semen). Plenty of diseases work like that. 

[melo4496]

Reading Island, and I love Rinne.. I want to read her route right away..

Legend / Tradition + Time Travel + Comedy

I like Setsuna. He's funny, childish and most of the time stupid. I thought he was a hetare (well he's indecisive), but he proved me wrong in Karen's route. The summer-island setting is really good...

[douggle]

Hit a huge milestone for myself recently with completing Danganronpa, Xblaze Code Embryo, Sono Hanabira 10 and Root Double, that makes for 120 Completed VNs, working on demonbane, dear drops, and danganronpa 2

[Eclipsed]

Y'know, after years of playing Code:Realize and thus only listening to a bunch of male VAs, I gotta say it feels sooo wonderful to be back to the holy trinity of female VAs that is Tokyo Babel's heroines. They're really a joyous bunch to listen to ~

~~
Anyways, I got Raziel's True End in Tokyo Babel

Overall I feel this route was just "decent". The further you get along, the less break / SoL / heroine banters you get since shit has to get real and then it's just fight after fight after fight after fight after fight and so by the time Mr. Big Baddy is revealed and Sorami's screaming her eyes out I'm just sitting there yawning and going "God, can this get any more boring?!@#111"

But d'aww dat ending ;-;

People can give Tokyo Babel flak for the lacking of a dedicated, fleshed-out romance all they want, but sometimes it's the little things that offer so much more oomph  #Totally not a sap for this kind of stuff.

Spoiler

..........................


I'M. TOTALLY. NOT. A. TOTAL. SAP. FOR. THIS. TYPE. OF. STUFF!!!!1

*SNIFF...--!!!!!!*

~~
Oh yeah, so apparently I did make the right call in my blind playthrough and avoided the Bad End because I'm master tactician. I'll go back and read that right now, since it apparently has the most content of Bad End routes.

Then t'will be best girl Sorami time~