What are you playing?

[BookwormOtaku]

Been playing some of Trample on Schatten! and I can say it's been entertaining so far, especially the over the top action and dialogue. Also been playing Kamidori and currently at chapter 2 where I've met the foxes and the angel who I now dub FemZamasu

[Plk_Lesiak]

I've finished reading SoulSet today (another Polish VN, yay!) and I have to say that while I don't have much experience with multi-route mystery, this was definitely among the best ones I've seen in EVN form, definitely on par with Everlasting Summer. The cast is really quite unique and interesting, including the first cross-dressing character I genuinely liked (I mean, he somehow combines a really foul attitude with being absurdly cute - and well, the game provided two, in a way even three "real" yuri routes so I had few resons to complain). The devs also did a cool thing with the romance options, that is even though you need to finish all routes to get to the true ending and every character is romanceable, you can freely choose between romantic and friendship scenarios in all of them. This way, it can be played as a "yuri" or an "otome" - whatever pleases you personally. I only skipped one romance though, as the character is question (Apris) was terribly dull.

The mystery itself was... Contrived, to the point I wasn't sure about a few details even at the very end, but it was generally quite satisfying. I like how the game uses "clues", with you keep between playthroughs, to make all paths meaningful and encourage you to go through all the endings, including bad ones. I'm not sure if I would enjoy it without the guide though, there's a lot of choices and ways to screw up in most routes and exploring them blindly mustr take tons of time (obviously, people that don't have to hurry through gamers like I do might have a lot of fun with that). Generally, a very positive experience, and even decently produced (a bit of disconnect between the sprotes and CG artwork was pretty much my onlyu complaint) - highly recommended.

Edited August 12, 2018 by Plk_Lesiak

[kyrt]

4/7 routes through Shining Song Starnova...I hate idols but the vn is growing one me. Have currently read the Julie, Nemu Nemu, Natsuki, and Mika routes...Just started the Mariya route and then I have Aki and Sasami route left. I've been told that these last three are the best in the game with the Sasami route (only unlocked by reading through the other 6) is the best in the game. I'm in it for the long haul so we'll see if that actually is true. Just don't expect great art work if anyone reads it...the h-scenes in particular have been pretty bad.

I am also still playing Evenicle and I'm still reading some Fureraba but I'll probably finish shining song starnova before I continue either of those. 

[r0xm2n]

..... I'm suffering from visual novel withdrawal symptoms.

.... and reading through "alternative" media (what most people would consider conspiracy theories) ........ isn't helping

I may or may not have learned too much about the world

 

Oh well, I'll have a brand new 27inch monitor (with lightning fast 144Hz refresh times) to play VN's on soon.

[Kei kun]

im on HapyMaher and Evenicle  .

[Templarseeker]

Hmm... I stopped playing Pretty Soldier Wars A.D 2048 miday... It was fun playing it at first but become somehow frustrating as the game went on... Putting it on hiatus for now until I'm in the mood to play it again...

Started playing Flowers Printemps and enjoying every moment of it! 

[cro-mag]

On 8/8/2018 at 6:27 AM, adamstan said:

 

but overally, from 4 KEY VNs I read (Kanon, AIR, Clannad and LB!) this is definitely the saddest one, without clear happy ending provided by KeyMagic^TM (like Clannad After Story's final run or LB's "it's not enough!").

Man, kinda sad that ending is, ehm... sad. I like happy endings. Will keep that in mind when i finally decide to start reading it. Key created wonderful stories, but their conclusion is always kinda depressing. Same with their other creation - anime "Angel Beats!" That ending was really touching. One of the best shows i've ever seen and one of the best girl.

Anyway, as for my VN on the line - started "Cou- Kuroi Ryuu To Yasashii Oukoku", but so far have read only a small amount. Decided to catch up with some LNs first.

[HataVNI]

I was reading Newton and the Apple Tree for the longest time. Now Hanachirasu, Utawarerumono, Chaos;Child and Nekopara Extra (which I am TLing to german)
For japanese novels: Just finished Minikui Mojika no Ko a few days ago, then Erewhon, Tyr is telling me to read Natsu no Kusari so I will do that and probably Trample on Schatten for Review reasons.

[littleshogun]

7 minutes ago, EroHataVNI said:

Tyr is telling me to read Natsu no Kusari so I will do that and probably Trample on Schatten for Review reasons.

By Tyr, did you mean Tyrosyn here? Just curious and want some confirmation here, so sorry for asking here.

[HataVNI]

50 minutes ago, littleshogun said:

By Tyr, did you mean Tyrosyn here? Just curious and want some confirmation here, so sorry for asking here.

Yeah. We are both admins of visual-novel.info

 

[Larxe1]

Playing Gin'iro Haruka atm.

The game's production values are really good and appealing characters. But seriously this is one hell of a timesink. From past toneworks games reviews, apparently this is the norm. I thought I already sunk a lot of time in the game then the opening song greets me and the clicking new game from the menu shows that I JUST HAVE FINISHED THE PROLOGUE.  Equally like Bethly and Yuzuki, the foreign cute girl and the strong willed amaenbou are types I like. As a result, I finished both the prologue of Yuzuki and Bethly and also equally confused which route I am to finish. As of now, I save and load between the two routes, and now my mood decides which girl gets a happy ending and never achieves happiness with the MC that they were made for. I really really want to commit to one route because I feel like that would be the most optimal one. Just waiting for that one character moment that would make me want to commit to one route

[Salurian]

Currently playing through some of last month's Japanese releases, currently on Koi wa Sotto Saku Hana no you ni , which has been one of the better Ensemble games thus far. Just finished Shin Koihime † Musou - Kakumei ~Son Go no Ketsumyaku~ which was quite good - Go was always my favorite faction in that series, so it was nice to get a full game focusing on them.

[adamstan]

I just started One - we'll see how it turns out.

[BlackCatPrincess]

2 hours ago, adamstan said:

I just started One - we'll see how it turns out.

Thank you guys for bringing up that obscured Key novel I somehow didn’t know about. Being a huge fan of whatever Key made it made me happy to know there is one more for me to read. I am in the middle of Kannon ( finished Nayuki Shioro and Makoto routes). I must admit that I really like the artwork there. It is unique and brings instant nostalgia that goes so well with the story.

[adamstan]

55 minutes ago, BlackCatPrincess said:

I must admit that I really like the artwork there. It is unique and brings instant nostalgia that goes so well with the story.

"One" doesn't look as good as Kanon, but I think I'll enjoy it nevertheless. Art style is similar, but it uses different engine, so for example, sprites don't have any smoothing on them, so the edges are quite pixellated. Also, backgrounds are of poorer quality. Actually, with Kanon they made significant visual progress.

One's visuals look like something transitional between old pixel-art and modern style.

Edited August 20, 2018 by adamstan

[BlackCatPrincess]

45 minutes ago, adamstan said:

"One" doesn't look as good as Kanon, but I think I'll enjoy it nevertheless. Art style is similar, but it uses different engine, so for example, sprites don't have any smoothing on them, so the edges are quite pixellated. Also, backgrounds are of poorer quality. Actually, with Kanon they made significant visual progress.

Yeah that’s even better . Pixelated sprites from past millennia is what I want. IMO the older Key novel is the better it is. I am a connoisseur of them old novels. Those are so different from all the recent stuff. So exotic and uncommon, true gems. I have the impression that old Key novels were crafted while novels like Grisaia ( which I am also currently playing and enjoy, I am at the end of Makina route, some of her lines are pure gold BTW) were manufactured. It might sound crazy but to me Clannad has a soul, and while some scenes are a bit whacky, there is this felling that the whole story might happen IRL, which is amazing, because it might happen to me also. I mean, when I think about my life, it would make a decent VN. ;p 

[adamstan]

17 minutes ago, BlackCatPrincess said:

Pixelated sprites from past millennia is what I want.

If that's the case, try Season of Sakura, Nocturnal Illusion or YU-NO. (With Season of Sakura, make sure to get DOS version and run it inside DOSBox.) Pixel-art classics (and wonderful character designs - taken straight from '90s anime). Three Sisters Story is on the same engine as Season of Sakura, but it isn't as good storywise.

Season of Sakura:

Three Sisters Story:

Nocturnal Illusion:

 

Edited August 20, 2018 by adamstan

[BlackCatPrincess]

9 minutes ago, adamstan said:

If that's the case, try Season of Sakura, Nocturnal Illusion or YU-NO. (With Season of Sakura, make sure to get DOS version and run it inside DOSBox.) Pixel-art classics.

Whoa !!! Thanx a lot

[Dreamysyu]

1 hour ago, BlackCatPrincess said:

Thank you guys for bringing up that obscured Key novel I somehow didn’t know about.

Well, depending on what you define as a "Key novel", you could say they include another even older title. Just as One, it was pretty much made by the same people who worked on Kanon and other earlier Key VNs. On the other hand, atmospherically it's not even close to them. It's a much, much darker title, and, to be honest, after reading the first 20-30 minutes of it, I wasn't impressed and dropped it stalled it for indefinite amount of time.

[BlackCatPrincess]

So many vns so little time

[adamstan]

45 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

Well, depending on what you define as a "Key novel", you could say they include another even older title. Just as One, it was pretty much made by the same people who worked on Kanon and other earlier Key VNs. On the other hand, atmospherically it's not even close to them. It's a much, much darker title, and, to be honest, after reading the first 20-30 minutes of it, I wasn't impressed and dropped it stalled it for indefinite amount of time.

After reading description on VNDB I decided that it's not for me. Too dark.

[Dreamysyu]

15 minutes ago, adamstan said:

After reading description on VNDB I decided that it's not for me. Too dark.

Yep. It's insane to realize that Key started from that.

Well, it would probably be dark enough for me, but, honestly, it just doesn't seem to be written well enough for the story of this kind.

[Eclipsed]

Sorry for hiatus, life doesn't want me to finish FataMorgana I guess

I'll get to it. Eventually. Maybe. It really is good, but

But hory shi look at my collection of otomes I just splurged on, these are all from dev Otomate who made Code Realize which was pretty fun and got me into the genre (naw it's cuz I has a things for female protags)

Oh, and Muv Luv. Finally, right? 

[BlackCatPrincess]

8 hours ago, adamstan said:

After reading description on VNDB I decided that it's not for me. Too dark

“Ikumi joins FARGO and uncovers their disturbing nature of harnessing psychic abilities through torture.”

 

Kinda reminds me of Rewrite

Edited August 21, 2018 by BlackCatPrincess

[Inorin]

4 minutes ago, BlackCatPrincess said:

Kinda reminds me of Rewrite

Rewrite's not really that dark though + it doesn't have h-scenes. I think it reminds me more of Kara no Shoujo instead (minus the psychic abilities part).

Edited August 21, 2018 by wei123