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Been reading Kindred Spirits, first VN in a while. Nice read, all the characters are likable and fun. Main character is thankfully not a blank slate, but rather a cool and fairly unique character with a concrete backstory.

As most of the game is unvoiced, the few voiced scenes can sometimes take me off guard. I kind of just mentally implant my own voices for the chars when reading the majority of scenes, based on their sprite and personality. In many cases it's a little off, and so it's kind of interesting to picture the subtle differences in how I would judge things if the whole game was voiced. It's hard to pick a fav character since everyone is so solid and likable, might actually lean towards Yuna because of how consistently cool she is. But in terms of absolute PEAK it's hard to go past

MAKI SEINA. For most of the game she's pretty mild mannered, always overthinking things and apologizing. Her docile nature is amplified by her short stature and younger age (1st year). Then she overhears a 3rd year talking shit about girl, so she bursts in the classroom, kicks her to the ground, grabs her collar and goes to town on her.

FZeffph.png

This cute lil' 1st year had the older girl in tears, and the rest of them in stunned silence. It was one of the most satisfying and surprising scenes I've read in a VN, despite the "smaller scale" compared to things like FSN. Maki is fucking metal, don't mess with her Yuri yo.

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Finished my second play-through of Kara no Shoujo 2. I took the opportunity and made it a real play-through and not just skipping to the new stuff. This time I was better prepared for the somewhat slower pacing and enjoyed the Hitogata village scenes much more.

Considering the new scenes, I've no clue why IG forced it into a second play-through, since the new content was just minimal. The new H-scenes were mostly unnecessary and arguably worse for the story, though it didn't really matter much since it was also possible to refuse them via choice. Other scenes were more detailed and kind of spoilerish, which was probably the reason they were left out the first time. From the final three endings, the normal ending was almost the same like some of the older ones, just more happy-endish and the obsession ending was more a joke than anything else. The true ending was the only one that offered some new stuff, though still not enough to justify another play-through. No comparison to Cartagra where probably 60% of the story was hidden in the true route.

Still, it was an enjoyable re-read and I'd probably raise my initial 7.5 rating to a full 8/10. :rolleyes:

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I'm back, bitches :maple: Though, I sincerely doubt that anyone noticed me gone, ahaha. 

I just finished the third part of Monster Girl Quest, and while it was not a masterpiece by any means, I ended up liking it far more than I thought I would. The characters and world had a way of growing on me, and the plot ended up significantly more expansive and large scale than one would ever, ever expect of a monster girl/reverse rape nukige. The protagonist has character by the end; while he's puerile and immature in the beginning, he grows and changes and by the end is more fleshed out than most VN protagonists (though, that isn't saying very much, ahaha). I also genuinely adore Alice, the main heroine, and her interactions with Luka were one of the best parts of the game in my opinion.

Spoiler

Although I've heard people say that she felt unnatural as a love interest, I would argue the contrary- though the confession came at the end, it felt like a natural conclusion, as though something was already there and this was just the scene in which it was finally put in to words. I only wish that it was less rapey, but as far as Monster Girl Quest goes that is not a wish that will ever be granted, which is a shame seeing as I always felt that the H content was the weakest link in a relatively strong chain.

The ending was incredibly, incredibly rewarding, and I was very glad that I ended up picking this up in spite of myself. With that said, there are several large problems that keep me from recommending it, much to my dismay... for instance, the art is horribly, horribly inconsistent. You have attractive, well-designed characters such as Alice and Tamamo, and then you have nightmare fuel such as... *shudders* leech girl. :amane: Yes, I will never understand the notion that adding breasts and vaguely female features to a leech makes for an arousing experience... and designs that are downright repulsive to look at, coupled with poor art, was a frequent occurrence in this game... the music, apart from a few standout tracks, was also relatively lacking. There wasn't really anything that made my ears bleed (apart from the H scene track), and I suppose it did its job well enough, but don't go in expecting much from the music department.

Spoiler

However, I'm going to put this here for good measure.

 

My biggest problem was, in the end, the H content. I've certainly never been one for playing VNs for the porn in the first place, but I imagine that even if I was MGQ is not where I would go for it. The H scenes are generally brief, generally drawn poorly (apart from Alice's), and all in all not something that I can imagine enjoying. Even if I was explicitly looking for monster girls, I'm sure there's a better VN that I could find. And I can't help but feel that it would be much better with the smut replaced; I don't think they do much, and at its core the VN is a genuine and enjoyable experience. However, because of them, and to a lesser extent the art, I can't see myself recommending this one to a great many people. With that said, if you don't think that the heavy H content would be a deterrent to you, I would say that you might want to give this one a shot. I really do feel that although this one isn't for everyone, or even most people, there are also quite a few who would probably enjoy it if they tried it.

 

tl;dr: I r8 snek/10 would get assaulted by Alice again.

Spoiler

jY5GUEf.jpg

 

Edited by akaritan
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Speaking about H Scenes on MGQ, I agree with Akaritan that the drawing was out there, so much that I think perhaps I better try my best to win instead of lose when I play the game. I said this because apparently people get the idea to just lose when playing this game for the scenes. Oh, the reason I said those above was because I'd already seen several H art from MGQ.

Edited by littleshogun
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I'm playing/reading Chrono Clock. It's a nice surprise : the art is good, the OST is nice and I love this lighthearted and heartwarming atmosphere. After the excellent prologue, I finished three routes :

- D.D. : I like the girl but her route is just above average. Because the conclusion is too predictable

Spoiler

(the sudden over-happy ending ruins almost everything)

- Makoto : Good. The link between her and Rei is believable and interesting

Spoiler

(the idea of the second clock and makoto possessed by it)

- Michiru : It's a major disappointment. The romance annoyed me (I think I can't enjoy blood-related incest) and the family part was overlong and boring. It's a pity...especially when the ending is rather beautiful and poetic.

Edited by Canicheslayer
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I just finished Bunny Black.I expected it was longer though.I'm not a perfectionist so ı rushed a bit too.I might start the sequel after a bit rest from crawling.Ending was really satisfying.:D

I have %86 CG by the way.Not bad.8)

Here is my final party:

Spoiler

B2uXyWx.jpg

 

Edited by Deniz
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Chrono Clock. Just finished Misaki's Route. Again It was heartwarming...and a bit stupid too (so predictable...and the conclusion is so lame). That said, It is not really a problem because the girl is absolutely cute and adorable (an excellent specimen of the classical tsundere tribe).

Edited by Canicheslayer
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I actually dropped 11eyes in favor of Da Capo 3. When they introduced Yukiko, another completely over the top idiot character, it was just too much. There's simply no way you'll ever get a half decent story with such a crappy cast of characters. There was almost no story progress and just some half decent red night sequences form time to time inbetween almost endless school life comedy scenes. That might have still been okay if those scenes at least would have had some quality, but I don't think I've ever read such unbelievable badly written slice of life and comedy scenes. :wafuu: Still, I do feel a bit bad about Kukuri though, because she was actually a rather unique and likable character - calm and with a more subtle sense of humor.

Character ratings: Kukuri >>> Misuzu >>> Don't care >>>>>> Hate

Overall rating: 3 / 10

Regarding Da Capo 3, I'm really enjoying it so far. Though I guess it doesn't really have to be good for that, since almost everything would feel like Shakespeare when coming from 11 Eyes. <_< Still, Da Capo 2 and Hoshimem were pretty much my two favorite slice of life nakiges so far and Da Capo 3 has a similar style than it's predessor. It's moe slice of life, but more composed and not too over the top silly like others. The only thing I'm not too happy so far are the overly cutified character designs, at least from the main characters. From those only Charles really clicks with me so far, while Sara and Rikka are just on the okayish side and I'll most likely skip Aoi's and Himemo's routes. I kinda like Mikoto, but she seems to be just a side character which is unfortunate. I didn't meet all characters yet, but just judging from the character section on VNDB, there are several side characters that look better than most of the main heroines. And that's a bit... unusual to be honest. :unsure:

BTW, am I the only one who has kind of a messed up saving system in DC3? If I save a position and reload it, it's several minutes before the actual saving position and I have to skip forward to the true position. I think the only title I remember that had similar problems from time to time was Really? Really! years ago.

Edited by ChaosRaven
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4 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:

I actually dropped 11eyes in favor of Da Capo 3. When they introduced Yukiko, another completely over the top idiot character, it was just too much. There's simply no way you'll ever get a half decent story with such a crappy cast of characters. There was almost no story progress and just some half decent red night sequences form time to time inbetween almost endless school life comedy scenes. That might have still been okay if those scenes at least would have had some quality, but I don't think I've ever read such unbelievable badly written slice of life and comedy scenes. :wafuu: Still, I do feel a bit bad about Kukuri though, because she was actually a rather unique and likable character - calm and with a more subtle sense of humor.

Character ratings: Kukuri >>> Misuzu >>> Don't care >>>>>> Hate

Overall rating: 3 / 10

FWIW, Yukiko gets a lot more interesting when you spend more time with her, but, yeah, I have to agree with most of what you said. Frankly your largely negative opinion of the game is reassuring, since I keep seeing people talk about how great 11eyes is, and I really thought it had a lot of problems, especially in the character department, which is typically an easy win for VNs.

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I was reading Steins;Gate 0 and I was so bored that I started...and finished Hanachirasu. And then, I came back and finished S;G 0.

Hanahcirasu:
Simple story, but with great setting, awesome, unique protagonist, really good writting and translation (Makoto is awesome!) and really emotionally intense fight scenes. Great depiction of fighting styles, moves and thoughts during battles. After finishin Hanachirasu I came back for a moment to 11eyes, just for a battle scene and I thought that I'm gonna puke, it was such a degradation of quality level in fight scenes. Back to Hanachirasu - Solemn and melancholic atmosphere throughout the entire game is an icing on the cake. I can't get more hyped for Muramasa. Hopefully I will live long enough to read it. Also - 'Joke ends' in second playthrough are absolute garbage, but didn't hit me strong enough to lower my grade for it.
9.1/10

And finally my most hyped VN ever, S;G 0.
And the biggest dissapointment ever, of course.
High points were really high, cast was great, Maho is now one of my favourite heroines ever. Writting was really good, and events were interesting.
But. It was filled with fluff and fillers. Boring fillers. 'Straight-from-fandisc' fluffy fillers.
I read it with suggested by almost everyone order. And after the Vega and Altair ending, rest of the VN was... completly non-engaging. Because I just knew that it's not 'canon', it didn't happened and it's just a simple 'what if'. So non of the (interesting in itself) events made any impact on me. After finishing this it become clear why S;G0 had structure like that, but what I felt while reading was just boredom.
Also -  there was a 'true ending', which presents a new plot thread...which is contained in some Drama CD, and not in any VN. Great.
Overall - too much fluff, really bad structure, and bad 'true ending' really dimnishes the experience of this, quite good VN.

So yeah - Not bad, but really unnecesary and skipable 'fandiscish' sequel to a perfect title. 8/10


EDIT:

2 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

FWIW, Yukiko gets a lot more interesting when you spend more time with her, but, yeah, I have to agree with most of what you said. Frankly your largely negative opinion of the game is reassuring, since I keep seeing people talk about how great 11eyes is, and I really thought it had a lot of problems, especially in the character department, which is typically an easy win for VNs.

I agree with ChaosRaven statement as well. Cast is really..mediocre at best. I really was liking this title more than I should at the begining, but now, after Yukiko first fight scene I'm just... burned out for this title. But I will finish this, it's not nearly as bad and repulsive as first 10 hours of Clannad, to which I will never return.

Edited by Vorathiel
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Just now, Vorathiel said:

But...why? : D She even have the second worst design, right after that childhood friend ;d

I watched the anime, and yukiko had a character design that I really fell in love with, I cant really explain why, she just struck a chord with me, too bad the translation is fucking shoddy so I might end up skipping it anyway..

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3 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

FWIW, Yukiko gets a lot more interesting when you spend more time with her, but, yeah, I have to agree with most of what you said. Frankly your largely negative opinion of the game is reassuring, since I keep seeing people talk about how great 11eyes is, and I really thought it had a lot of problems, especially in the character department, which is typically an easy win for VNs.

I was really trying hard to not make it one my infamous 'impatience drops', stalled it a bit and picked it up again, but at some time it got clear that this VN just isn't for me. Though I think people with a higher resistance to silly over the top comedy will probably enjoy the title more. Though part of the reason I dropped it is that my backlog is currently getting bigger and bigger and so I think I can afford dropping mediocrity. Amusingly, the last decision point to drop it came from your review - I just checked it again and thought that with just a 3/5 I'll probably won't be missing much. ^_^

14 minutes ago, Kawasumi said:

I watched the anime, and yukiko had a character design that I really fell in love with, I cant really explain why, she just struck a chord with me, too bad the translation is fucking shoddy so I might end up skipping it anyway..

Reminds a bit of when I watched the Chaos;Head anime and I kind of liked it, but I just couldn't stand the VN. Usually it's the other way round. Though I have to admit that Yukiko probably didn't really get a fair chance from me - she was just another 'hyper' character when I just desperately wanted the VN to get serious for a change. :vinty:

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4 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:

Reminds a bit of when I watched the Chaos;Head anime and I kind of liked it, but I just couldn't stand the VN. Usually it's the other way round. Though I have to admit that Yukiko probably didn't really get a fair chance from me - she was just another 'hyper' character when I just desperately wanted the VN to get serious for a change. :vinty:

you know what, maybe the anime wasnt as bad as I thought lol

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It's not like Clannad drags. I just hated every single one person in the cast, and humour was vile, didn't clicked at all with me. I read route of dorm Lady (completly hollow waste of time) and half of Tomoyo route (from all the things I hate, the strict bossy archetypes are the worst).

But I just came back to Air, and read second route - Kano. And I was really surprised. It had working humour, really pleasant atmosphere and even final with 'Key magic' made sense. Usually it all comes down to some 'ethereal' mumbo jumbo with 'poetic' sentences without much cohesive content. But this time, while all that magic was unexplained, characters were reasonable about this, they were confused and surprised, and text was meaningfull and understandable. This type of 'key magic' I can get into. Usuall type (Minagi route from Air, most of the Kanon routes) is just not for me.

Edited by Vorathiel
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After finishing Chrono Clock (Cro's route is disappointing and Miu's conclusion is a joke), I returned to D.C. 3. At first, I was less than enthusiastic because of Ricca (the girl is supremely hot but her story is just frustrating and felt a bit botched) or Charles' routes (really bad...and the H-scenes make the problem worse). And then, I started (EDIT : and finished) Himeno's...

Thanks to my patience because, for the moment, It's the best (EDIT) one of the best moments of the whole VN (Even if I'm not a fan of Himeno and even if I normally dislike Incest settings)  :Chocola:

Spoiler

At last I understand the ability of kiyotaka (his ability to control a dream) and the usefulness of this strange (and boring) prologue...And I liked the few references to DC1 or DC2 ^^

Edit : I'm reading Sara's route.

Edited by Canicheslayer
finished Himeno's route
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Finished the main story of Kindred Spirits and most of the extra ones. This VN has a really interesting presentation. First you read all of the scenes from MC/Ghosts' perspectives for the month, then after that/before unlocking the next month you read the same/similar scenes from the perspective of the side characters. Then when you finish the VN they add a 3rd layer where they show you extra scenes that may add context that was missing in the main story, but may have disrupted flow/spoiled certain plot points if they were plonked in the main story. It's a very interesting way of going about things, and in a casual Yuri VN of all places. Then again to implement this storytelling method you would need many characters with a suitably large role in the story. Many characters even have scenes from before they were introduced at all in the main story, hence the disrupted flow comment if it wasn't done this way. And since all these pairings have 2 characters with their own thoughts, some of these extra scenes that give insight could be spoiler-y if in the main story.

Especially after reading their extra scenes, I really liked Aki and Youka; both as a pairing and as individual characters.

For a start it was interesting that the "goody two shoes" was more assertive than the "delinquent", and that it was the "delinquent" who was all nervous and fidgety around the "goody two shoes". Of course these are not accurate descriptions of their overall personalities, but these are their general roles that they transcend the cliches of. And they were both likeable and unique in their own right, especially Aki. I would find it hard to pin down a character from any piece of fiction I've seen/read that acted/thought/presented themselves in the same way she did. You could find broad examples, but none would give off the same feel from what I've seen.

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Finished If My Heart Had Wings, bringing my number of dropped VNs down to under 15. I thought it was decent at best, as good-looking as the backgrounds are it was pretty easy to get bored by the plot before the good moments here and there.

Also finished Tomoyo After and having played the original version the prologue, middle and epilogue felt so disconnected from one another. It's like the Author started with the epilogue, thought it was too short, wrote the prologue as a setup and still thought it was too short, then wrote that whole middle.

Edited by onorub
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Finished Pygmalion earlier this week. Well, my final impression is that it is a pretty good VN, but it suffers a lot because of the lack of polish.

Overall, I like the themes this VN presented. They are nothing new, actually, they are almost as old as the human civilization. But here they are used quite appropriately in the story and created an engaging read overall. The story overall is quite well paced. Well, at least, for my tastes, which tend to be a bit unconventional in that regard. In contrast to Tokyo Babel, the other VN by Propeller I played, the battles don't last too long, and overall take a small portion of the whole story. On the other hand, the story was always rather unpredictable as a whole (though some key twists could be predicted, basically, at the beginning of the whole game) and kept my interest intact throughout the whole story.

On the other hand, the thing that bothers me a bit after I finished the game is that some aspects of the plot, which were brought up, could be explored more.

Spoiler

I mostly mean the Puppets and how they affected humanity. There are some other things, like Ibis' backstory, or emissaries of Ruka from other places, and how they were affected by the ending.

Overall, this VN doesn't explain too much, leaving to the reader the job of finding the hints in the story and some freedom of interpretation. Usually I don't dislike that approach, but it often leaves me with a feeling that something was left unresolved.

And now, the technical stuff. The art is not bad, though I disliked it at first. On the other hand, there are some times when the art clearly contradicts the written text, which gives some WTFs. I understand, that the moments like "draw an anime-style girl, describe an ordinary Japanese girl who looks nothing like a drawn girl" are pretty common for VNs and are understandable, but this problem doesn't end at them. Also, I noticed it twice when a CG appeared several lines too early, before the action drawn actually took place. In one case it doesn't really matter, but the other case happens during a battle, where such things are more important. The music is nice, but there is just too little of it.

Concerning the rating... It's either a solid 7/10 VN, or a very weak 8/10. I'm going to leave it at 8 so far, though I doubt it'll stay there for long.

PS: Also, calling this a yurige is a big trolling for yuri fans.:makina:

Spoiler

One. Single. Kiss. That's all, ladies and gentlemen, we've finished.

 

Edited by Dreamysyu
Five quite in the same paragraph is a lot...
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7 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

PS: Also, calling this a yurige is a big trolling for yuri fans.:makina:

Maybe I should call it Shoujo ai game instead of yuri then. But then again, some people called Madoka yuri even though there's no kiss between girl or something like that, so that's that. Also keep in mind that this is all age, and yuri usually mean girl on girl sexual act. Just saying here.

Edited by littleshogun
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