Sekien no Inganock- VN Reading Club, August

[Yotek]

--Ten days ago...

Ten days ago... The <<Revival>> happened.

Nobody remembers exactly what all their shitposts were.

I too don't remember exactly what shitposts I had.

My memories are fragmented in red and black.

The posters that day, they became something different. No longer human.

They became ragers and flamers trapped in the forum of Fuwanovel.

I too am no longer human.

There is an Archmage Tay who dances in the corner of my vision

こにちわヨテク

[Nimbus]

So I've just started chapter 10 and will likely finish by the weekend.

 

According to the walk-through there is 12 chapters and I will admit, with all the unresolved plot threads I'm starting to worry that the ending may feel rushed.

[Yotek]

Finished!

 

The game was longer than I had expected. Overall, I would say pretty good game. Once again, at the very least glad to have played it as it was on my list.

 

The original reason (besides it being the monthly VN) I wanted to play it was because I had heard a few pieces of music from this game and enjoyed them. Hopefully, I'll have a little surprise related to that later....

 

The art and writing style did take some time getting used to. It was a struggle at first, mostly because of the art. I am not really fond of that style. I think Kerkan was drawn really well in that style and that made up for a bit. The repetitive writing was fitting at some points and annoying at others. Like every extend my right arm sequence...

 

I thought that the decision area was unique and a very well placed feature. The option to skip it is nice. For those that want to plow through the VN that works, but I really liked getting additional backstory. I personally never ran into an issue where I couldn't solve it after 1 or 2 attempts. However, if you do have issues, I can see that being annoying. I thought it was a very creative way to give insight into characters without it becoming out of place. The way they explain the why/how at the end related to those was also a nice touch.

 

Going to move to spoiler section here for a little bit of story. Please DO NOT read unless you've finished the game. Don't ruin it for yourself.

 

You've been warned!

Chapter 1 was really excellent in setting the stage for things to come. I was not big on the setting, but what really drew me in was the giant plot twist with Salem. At that point, I was hooked.

 

The game did a very good job with the H scenes. I didn't feel like they dragged on at all or had crazy impossible things in them. Could be because Ati was amazing. Also, OMG I did not expect that Ruaha twist with Kerkan.

 

The characters were almost always fun and had depth to them. You were always learning a little more about every character as time went on. Things like David possibly loving Ati, Iru not losing any memories, Kerkan being Kia's brother. It made reading always enjoyable as there was something always being added. Even if it was cryptic. Though, some characters kinda just disappeared. People like Sara or Randolph, they had moments, but nothing really explained.

 

My complaints of the game really come from the ending. It really wasn't a happy ending game. At best it was bittersweet. While I accept that, I didn't like that. To draw an analogy, it may have been a very well made pie.. but I'm a cake kind of person.

 

I really can't accept what happened to Ati, I saw 1 of 2 outcomes during their moments in the Opium Den. Either Gii was already dead, or Ati was going to die. When Ati ceased being the black cat, I honestly almost dropped the game. I liked her so much.

 

The ending itself seemed weird, rushed, and nonsensical. I didn't get Grim Grim disappearing. I didn't get exactly what he meant by the phenomenon equation hypothesis he had. I didn't get if only Poroshion was now human or all the children. Did Gii and Kia live or die. What happened to Ruaha and Kerkan. Did Ati get out okay. So many questions. Just too open for me personally.

 

Again, Glad I played it. Looking forward to next months VN.

[Yukiru]

There's the web novel too.

 

Man, reading this thread makes me feel like replaying so much.

[Turnip Sensei]

I absolutely loved Inganock, it sure earned a place among my favorite visual novels.

 

The narrative is No. 1 reason why I wanted to read the game and one the reasons why the game is so enjoyable to me. Before reading Inganock, the VNs I read were mainly focused on dialog, so I was desperately in need of describing narrative.

 

And Inganock's narrative was just what I needed. I learned to like the repetition when Sharnoth, and it was joy to see that Inganock did it even better than Sharnoth, as it wasn't nearly as overblown.

The repetition makes this certain sense of security to the story, once you learn when they appear. The contents are only slightly different every time, but different enough to keep the interest. But real strength of the repetition shows when they majorly break the familiar structure. There is this strange sense of unease when familiar scene happens in what feels like completely wrong place, or when the contents are majorly different. The changes in the story felt even stronger when the structure of story changed itself.  

I can understand why Inganock could feel depressing, but the narrative never made me feel that way. Even though there was misery and suffering, the narration seemed to distance itself from it. The characters' narrations had stronger opinions and feelings in them, but the overall feeling was like it was accepting everything the way they were, and seeing everything as equally beautiful. Or something like that.

 

I agree with the minigame being interesting, I really liked they way the used the it to show insight in to the characters and plot points in ways that wouldn't really fit the main story. It helped that all of the characters were really interesting and that they gave you enough information to make your own speculations, but hardly telling concrete answers.

 

Now for the spoilery thoughts

I didn't mind the open-ended ending, they gave enough hints for me to make my own conclusions, and I think the ambiguous ending fitted the story. The way I saw the ultimate fate of characters, was that Gii and Kia gave their life to resurrect Porshion. Don't know how, but that's how is seemed judging by the VN. Maybe the web novels will clear things up a bit. 

 

The H-scenes were actually pretty good, one of the best story relevant H-scenes I've read. Bonus points for not trying to be too titillating.

 

I actually liked the Ati's fate initially, the distorted screams were painful and the conclusion was beautifully tragic. But when the game almost got to point of H-scene with Kia, it started to irk me. What way to make Ati's death seem worthless.

 Kia was generally pretty divisive character for me. At times she was interesting, and at times her naivety and the way she stole spotlight from other characters, especially from Ati, annoyed me greatly. And she was little too perfect for her own good.   

[Nimbus]

Just finished Chapter 11 and, well.....

[Fred the Barber]

Surprised there isn't more on this thread, given how great this VN is. I guess I shouldn't complain about that since I've been quiet, too, but I blame technical issues (I'm relegated to mostly using a tablet for the last ~week and having trouble finding the motivation to spam Fuwa in that keyboard-unfriendly environment).

 

I'm very close to being done, and I'm loving this VN. The music is top-notch (notable standouts include the H-scene music, oddly enough... normally that's about the worst track in any VN), the setting is beautiful, the characters are interesting, and the plot is keeping me very well-engaged (I find myself actually trying to put the scattered hints together all the time). Can't ask for much more.

 

I'm kind of torn on the mini-game. On the one hand, I love the idea of hearing "their inner voices" and find it very well-executed. On the other hand, I hate that you can lose at it; that's just not what I'm looking for. It just causes me to keep reloading and retrying, listening to the same monologues over and over. They were great the first time. Please don't punish me by making me listen to them repetitively just because I got the order wrong. Given that I really want to hear everything in every chapter (apart from the basic winning/losing condition, I just want to read everything), I started getting pretty frustrated around chapter 8 or so and started using a guide to ensure completion (after one attempt blind, which inevitably doesn't get everything).

 

I just finished chapter 11, and I couldn't agree more with Nimbus's comment.

For me to cry for a well-executed anime is not uncommon, but for a VN is very rare; Chapter 11 of Sekien no Inganock made that happen. That alone would be enough for me to give it high marks.

[Nimbus]

Surprised there isn't more on this thread, given how great this VN is. I guess I shouldn't complain about that since I've been quiet, too, but I blame technical issues (I'm relegated to mostly using a tablet for the last ~week and having trouble finding the motivation to spam Fuwa in that keyboard-unfriendly environment).

 

I'm very close to being done, and I'm loving this VN. The music is top-notch (notable standouts include the H-scene music, oddly enough... normally that's about the worst track in any VN), the setting is beautiful, the characters are interesting, and the plot is keeping me very well-engaged (I find myself actually trying to put the scattered hints together all the time). Can't ask for much more.

 

I'm kind of torn on the mini-game. On the one hand, I love the idea of hearing "their inner voices" and find it very well-executed. On the other hand, I hate that you can lose at it; that's just not what I'm looking for. It just causes me to keep reloading and retrying, listening to the same monologues over and over. They were great the first time. Please don't punish me by making me listen to them repetitively just because I got the order wrong. Given that I really want to hear everything in every chapter (apart from the basic winning/losing condition, I just want to read everything), I started getting pretty frustrated around chapter 8 or so and started using a guide to ensure completion (after one attempt blind, which inevitably doesn't get everything).

 

I just finished chapter 11, and I couldn't agree more with Nimbus's comment.

For me to cry for a well-executed anime is not uncommon, but for a VN is very rare; Chapter 11 of Sekien no Inganock made that happen. That alone would be enough for me to give it high marks.

I think one of the reasons why people haven't been talking is because this (for me at least) feels like the kind of story that you can't really discuss until you've finished it.

 

Likewise I felt the music was incredible, the main song that plays on the menu may go down as one of my favorite music tracks in vn history.

[AaronIsCrunchy]

I am gonna be keeping this thread going well into September? That cool? Only, I'm the world's crappiest pirate with the world's crappiest connection, and the one I did download took 8 hours to tell me that 'my computer didn't trust this, get rekt' or words to that effect. So I need to wait for it to arrive, which is likely to be right at the end of the month.

[Yotek]

This VN is an excellent one for discussion, however, it is probably more tailored towards someone reading it the first time talking to someone who has already finished it. It reminds me a lot of G-senjou no Maou. The story has a lot of questions and there are so many interesting points to question, however, as the story goes on those get answered. You can't exactly talk about this without spoiling and by the time you make it to the end things are mostly answered.

 

The other issue related to discussion is the fact that it is a single route game(unless you count all the bad ends). It doesn't do the the whole each girl route. It goes through as a single story. Normally, you could build discussions based off each girls route, like we did for Yume Miru Kusuri or Osanadai.

 

With that said, it is still an excellent game. I know I'm looking forward to getting a friend to read it so I can see his reactions as he makes his way through it.

[Kosakyun]

I'd probably be spamming this thread every chapter if I could, but my schedule doesn't permit me to do so.

 

Anyway, I just started Chapter 6, since I seriously started reading this about two days ago.

So far, so good.

 

Was really surprised when Iru mimicked the Grand Prince at the start of Chapter 5. That was also the longest intro to a chapter I've read in the game. Felt like something was really important there. Rather, it felt like the black-clad girl was really important. Didn't expect the girl to be the one Oji-san made a promise with though. I clearly did not see that coming. 

 

Anyway, the story has been good so far. I really like how each chapter feels like an individual episode. It's more on how they end a chapter. It feels, well, nice. It's like a sub-story every chapter. Just like Sharnoth, which I really liked about it too. The minigame of Inganock is really interesting too. Getting to look deeper into everyone's thoughts is always a plus for me. Good thing there's a walkthrough though. I have no idea how to clear everyone's inner thoughts without a walkthrough. 

 

What else, hmm. Yes, the setting is indeed depressing, but it felt livelier when Kia made her debut in the story. As opposed to what Turnip said, the type of narrative it has, a.k.a. the seemingly detached from the situation type, makes it more depressing for me. It's like losing all hope about something. It feels like that for me. Anyway, when Kia entered the big picture, it was like Inganock gained life once more. I couldn't read Inganock continuously when Kia wasn't there, but when Kia showed up, I sped through the game. A godsend, Kia is. I'm still interested in whatever background Kia has though. She clearly likes Gii, and it seems like Gii vaguely remembers Kia from ten years ago. Actually, everything from before ten years ago is kinda unclear, but I like that too. Would love to see what Kia has in store for us, especially after that thing on top of the Golden Staircase mentioned Kia's name.

 

I have a question though. Does the time shown on the silver pocket watch signify anything? There have been two hours shown on the clock, namely the zeroth hour and the first hour. Really curious about this one. I don't know what similarities the events where either hour showed up have though.

[Fred the Barber]

As of chapter 11, I still have no clue if the hours on the pocket watch have any significance. A great many other things do, though!

 

 

I really like how each chapter feels like an individual episode. It's more on how they end a chapter. It feels, well, nice. It's like a sub-story every chapter.

 

 

This is a very good point. One thing I especially appreciate is that each episode, in addition to giving new conflict and closure on it quickly, also makes substantial progress on the broader arc, so you don't feel like the big picture is ever abandoned or unimportant. That mix makes for a better-paced read vs. many other VNs. Obviously this is not in the same league, but just to give a contrast, I remember Princess Evangile also did the very clear episode demarcation and had quickly-paced episodes that usually brought a new conflict and resolved it. However, unlike Inganock, PE episodes usually failed to make any overall progress on any substantial broader arc, which left it feeling kind of random and pointless.

[Nimbus]

Finished it last night. Here are my overall thoughts on Inganock.

 

Over all I quite enjoyed it.

The setting work perfectly with the atmosphere and the writing creating a very depressing feel while never really getting me down (thanks in no small part to Kia being such a bundle of happiness). The art style also complemented the atmosphere and setting in my opinion, even if it did take a little getting used to.
Music was also a standout feature for me. I need to find the OST somewhere! 

Character's were definitely Ignaocks best feature. Gii interesting despite his general lack of emotions. his evolution as the chapters progressed was believable and perfectly paced while his relationships with the other characters made me all the more invested in the story.
Ati is probably going to go down as one of, if not my favorite side characters in vn history. she was strong and confident yet she also had weakness and was easily embarrassed, every scene she was in was enjoyable and fun (except for that scene that will never be brought up EVER again). the CG where she is sleeping with Kia has become one of my favorite CGs not only for being memorable but because it also reflected their relationship; Ati looks confused while Kia is happy as always all the while they are as close as can be. Their relationship really did feel like a combination of the relationships between two sisters, two friends and a mother and daughter.

 

I found the mini-game to be very interesting a neat little idea. Allowing us to see what various characters are thinking really helped me connect to them.

The writing was mixed in my opinion. I didn't like Sharnoth because the writing was so repetitive so I was a bit skeptical going into Inganock. Although the writing is much better than Sharnoth it still got really repetitive at times, especially how one scenes repeated multiple times thought out one chapter. I also would've liked a little variety in the Creature/Kikai fights. I understand them being similar most of the time but couldn't they have done a little more with the fights against Kerkan and Lemure Lemure? And speaking of Kerkan, did anyone else think he was underused or underwhelming? I didn't think much of him one way or the other but it felt like he should've had more to do with the story than he did.

 

The ending worked out pretty well in the end. I was a little worried becuase there were still a number of plot threads left unresolved by the end of chapter 11 so I was worried the ending would feel rushed but i the end it worked out nicely. That being said I would've liked to know the fates of certain characters like Ati, Dorothy and Randolph.

 

Overall, I had a really good time with Inganock. even though it did have some downsides the highlights were really damn good. Speaking of which, I'd like to announce my candidacy for President of the Ati fan club.

[Kosakyun]

This is a very good point. One thing I especially appreciate is that each episode, in addition to giving new conflict and closure on it quickly, also makes substantial progress on the broader arc, so you don't feel like the big picture is ever abandoned or unimportant. That mix makes for a better-paced read vs. many other VNs. Obviously this is not in the same league, but just to give a contrast, I remember Princess Evangile also did the very clear episode demarcation and had quickly-paced episodes that usually brought a new conflict and resolved it. However, unlike Inganock, PE episodes usually failed to make any overall progress on any substantial broader arc, which left it feeling kind of random and pointless.

 

Yes. I really appreciate how these individual episodes still contribute to the overall advancement of the plot. It brings about a nice feeling of satisfaction, for me at least. I wouldn't know about Princess Evangile, since I haven't read it, but it's definitely something I've come to love with Shikkoku no Sharnoth and Forest. Though it was a lot more confusing in Forest, given how the story went. 

 

I just remembered that I haven't read the webnovels for Sharnoth. I need to get that out of the way too.

[Yotek]

So sad day. I was working on transcribing one of the Inganock songs (Hopelessness). Sadly, my pianist (heh penis) will be unavailable for a while. So... instead I'll just post what I got. Lost the desire to finish it now that I can't play it for a while

.

 

Enjoy.... 

 

http://imgur.com/a/ajYze

[AaronIsCrunchy]

Hey guys, look what arrived just in time for Augu... ah crap.

 

 

In all seriousness, I'm pretty excited It's my first physical VN, and I'm confident it's a good one so I can feel like my first isn't a shitter!

[Kosakyun]

I love you, Aaron.

Let's do our best to finish it. <3

[AaronIsCrunchy]

I love you, Aaron.

Let's do our best to finish it. <3

 

Yes, let's

 

I dunno if this is a normal thing that's generally done, but the people that sent it to me also sent a pack of tissues with it. Which is nice.

[Kosakyun]

I dunno if this is a normal thing that's generally done, but the people that sent it to me also sent a pack of tissues with it. Which is nice.

 

...Wow. Customer help in malls should have this level of consideration, man.

[Narcosis]

I think they bundle tissues with eroge for different reasons, but that just might be me

 

Nice choice, Aaron. You won't be disappointed.

[Kosakyun]

So after five months of stalling the novel (in which I've been stuck on Chapter 7 until I opened the game again last December 11), I finally finished the whole thing. Granted that it was another Liarsoft title, after finishing Forest and Shikkoku no Sharnoth in the past, I went into reading this with high expectations. Sadly, since theater life pretty much consumed what should have been my 'free time', I had to stall reading this. Now that I've finished the visual novel, I can now say that it did not betray my expectations. It was great.

Time to type in my thoughts about the visual novel.

Before reading the web novels:

First of all, I'd like to say that it's a pity this wasn't discussed much. I mean, sure, I'm at fault too for lazing around, but it was seriously good. At least, in my opinion and in some others as well. This got me reading for hours straight without taking breaks since I really wanted to see what would happen next, even if each end of a chapter was a nice place to stop at. Pretty much like Comyu in that regard. If people weren't able to pick this up back when it was the visual novel of the month, they should still consider picking it up in the future. Along with Sharnoth, of course.

I'll first note the opening of the visual novel. Compared to Sharnoth's OP, it didn't really get me that excited. Probably because I didn't like the song that much. Of course, that was only at the start. As I went through the visual novel, my impression of the opening started to change. I started to become attached to it. Well, it's kinda expected, since I listened to it every time I opened the application. By the end of the visual novel (around Chapter 11 or 12), I would get goosebumps from watching it. It just seemed so fitting now, given everything I've read. I guess it's true that you can learn to love stuff.

Next, I'll just comment on the overall plot. I'm kinda pressed for time right now. I'll start off with 'Holy shit everything exploded at the end. Literally'. I was already biased towards the by-chapter progression that Inganock implements because of my experience with Sharnoth, so the pacing the visual novel pretty much satisfied me. The way things progressed was at an ideal pace imo, and kept me interested in it continuously. This was especially true regarding the shadows that are evidently present in the City. Everything about the Phenomenon Equation Experiment, the Grand Prince Astea, the Crack Engines, the <<Revival>>, the <<Creatures>>, the <<Kikai>>... Everything was interesting. Especially the Golden Staircase that was presented at random times throughout the visual novel. It just seemed so significant, just like M in Sharnoth. Well, of course it is. I mean, would they use repetition if they didn't want to give emphasis on its significance? My interest in these subjects was piqued even more by the vague descriptions that the visual novel gives you about these important plot points, where they never really were explained from the start. It's so vague that you pretty much were going blind into whatever they're telling you about these stuff, at least before the latter part of the story. That's what made it even more interesting for me. Probably the biggest question I kept asking in the game was 'who the heck is Kia?'. I kept asking why she was there, why she acted like that, why she met Gii, why Lemure Lemure (who hasn't been introduced at the time) called out to Kia, and where she came from. These questions were only really answered at Chapter 12, and the answers blew my mind. In all honesty, I'm still not quite sure about the accuracy of my thoughts regarding what had happened at the end of the visual novel, especially about how Grimm Grimm was supposedly beaten by Gii. I guess it had something to do with everything concerning the Phenomenon Equation being phenomena. At least, that's how I perceived it. No idea what happened after that though. It's either he denied the possibility of the phenomena happening or it's something else.

Next thing I'll comment about is the 'gameplay' in the visual novel, which is the 'inner voices segment'. It's a very interesting segment, giving you information about the world as well as the different characters' takes on what happened and what is happening. I really appreciate its inclusion in the visual novel, since it gives more depth to the characters and their actions. At least it does for me. What I like about it is that it doesn't necessarily just blurt out all of the characters' secrets and relationships with one another. The most recent one that I can appreciate was the segment in which Kerkan comments on how Kia is the only person that he wants to apologize to. Of course, that did not make any sense whatsoever, and made the identity of Kia even more mysterious than ever. The segment did not say anything about Kerkan and Kia's relationship, but it implies that they're related one way or another. And holy god, to my utter surprise, they were indeed related. Related by blood. I had no idea. This made it have even more impact than ever, giving sense to why Kerkan is living as the Traveling Murderer.

I can't think of what else to say at this point, so I'll stop there for now. I'd love to talk about my experience with the other aspects of the novel as well, but I'll set that aside for when people mention it, I guess.

After reading the web novels:

The 'Tails of Inganock' were interesting side-stories to the game, letting us see the different parts of Inganock that would have been ignored at some point. They were a nice preparation to what would happen in the 'After Inganock' segment, where M supposedly comes to Inganock to look for the 'green stones'. It was nice seeing the other characters (Ellie and David) interacting with each other. It shows that it really isn't all sadness in the fantastical city. But yeah. I think the main point of the first one was to introduce the existence of Thoth, which is apparently the supercomputer that has access to most of the information available in the city. The second one was a nice Ati segment, though I'm not quite sure what significance it bears regarding the plot of either the visual novel or 'After Inganock'. Maybe I just couldn't remember a character named Keith. The third one was about the Street Knight, Crack Chrome. It finally made sense why he kept saying 'Clock Crack Chrome'. Never thought Crack Chrome would be the name of the guy. It was also nice, though I kept trying to think about his female Kikai and what the heck he was waiting for. I have guesses, but I'd like to hear the others' guesses too. The fourth one was about Ati again, which was nice as well. I guess the point of the fourth one was to introduce the existence of the 'green stones' distributed by that company that I forgot.

'After Inganock' was a nice epilogue to the visual novel. Having read Sharnoth first, it was nice seeing a familiar character in the segment. I didn't think M would talk that much with another person though. First of all, there's one comment I'd like to make about this part.

 

ATIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

 Everything about Chapter 11 became even more painful. The dream sequence got me struggling, and the segment where Porshion talked to her in the Seventh Tier just killed me. The whole epilogue focused on Ati's quest to regain what she lost in the past ten years because of the 'right hand of evil', and her searching for the Traveling Doctor was just really painful to read. Painful in the sense that a lot of emotions were being triggered in her search. The most intriguing part of the segment was really M. Why was M there? How could M see Ati's golden eye even if it wasn't evident in their first meeting? I would say that he could sense it since it was always there, but that's just my take on it. Besides, he's not necessarily human anyway. This part of the webnovel gave a sort of closure to Ati's case, making her remember the person that was most important to her. It ended at Ati finally stating the name of the person she had been looking for, Gii. God, it was nice. I can't really put it into words properly, but it was really nice.

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

When I was reading through the encyclopedia in Gahkthun, I saw that the Infinite Mist covered Inganock from 1903 to 1904, which didn't make sense whatsoever coming from just the visual novel. The decade of events between the Revival (or Renascence, according to Gahkthun) and Revival's End all happened in just one year, which made the people's suffering all the more evident. As they do say, sometimes a short span of time feels like an eternity. I don't know if it was because of the Phenomenon Equation Experiment's effect on the city or something else, but that intrigued me. Another thing that interested me was M's search for the 'green stones', which apparently are part of the Emerald Tablet. I do not remember these terms being mentioned in Sharnoth, so I am interested in why M was searching for them and their relation to the Elysian Eyes (or the golden eyes, whatever). I might just not remember it though.

I became even more interested in the world where these visual novels are set in, so I guess I'll read Gahkthun soon enough. I just hope the others are translated as well. But that probably won't happen anytime soon, so I'm better off reading Japanese. Whelp, till then.

Yes, I necro'd the thread. I told you guys I'd revive it in the future.  

I hope that's enough to make up for me being too lazy to finish this earlier.

Now, on to Swan Song.