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What are you reading? Untranslated edition


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2 hours ago, Deep Blue said:

Comparing inochi to narcissu mmm you just triggered me kiso and really bad :saber:

IMO Narcissu is one of the hidden gems out there where no body reads or gives attentions too. 

It was made with minimalist and simplicity in mind, so it would't give out too much visually, and it requires the reader to "Feel it".

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Completed Hanachirasu.

In many ways I think this is pre-taste to what to come if I read muramasa. Considering hanachirasu and muramasa is written by the same dude. Narahara

Really good vn honestly. I played this one before about a year or two ago. But I couldn't get into it. The damn combat and info-dumps took forever to read. The pace felt so damn odd. I just couldn't get into it. So I ended up stalling it.

In meantime I read the Book of Five Rings. Surprising how many of the similarities with it and hanachirasu. Some of the info-dumps reads like just out of the book. I recommend to read the book if you feel like reading hanachirasu. Perhaps muramasa as well, as he wrote the script in that vn as well.

When I started reading hanachirasu again now it was a lot more enjoyable. Rather than the standard template of fighting scenes. What movements the characters do and fight is described.

The game gives you info-dumps on martial art swordplay. How it works, the different styles and how they fight. I honestly found this really refreshing. You put yourself into the system the different attacks. And you feel a lot more depth into the combat. Because you know what kind of movements the characters would do. This is makes the combat feel more like a actual martial art. I liked that realistic element. But it does make it somewhat tiresome to read at times.

There is also the alt-history info-dumps.. I am not entirely satisfied in how well understood the details. So many prefectures, cites, dates etc that has some meaning. But I don't know the importance because I am not native, nor have I studied the history/geography of Japan. I have rather mixed feelings over that. I could have googled all the stuff and read myself up on most of it, but it would take a while. So i didn't bother at the time. There is a time when the time put in isn't really worth it in terms of depth. 

Still I found the setting enjoyable. With the difference in how Japan lost. And how the culture and such was affected. Interesting and fun. I found the setting rather silly when I read about it in the synopsis on vndb. But after reading the alt-history dump I felt it was rather nicely done and interesting. So I suppose the end result is close enough.

So in terms of writing, in the end it's rather more descriptive. Goes more into details than you would normally expect. But that's more a choice of style than anything. Nothing intrinsic bad about it. But you have to be aware of what it is.

More standard stuff about the vn. It has good art, music is quite good. Writing and comedy has it's own style, and it's good. Protag is an awesome asshole. Ending gave me feels, straight uguu in the stomach and made me sore in the throat. Goood stuff.

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1 hour ago, Bolverk said:

When I started reading hanachirasu again now it was a lot more enjoyable. Rather than the standard template of fighting scenes. What movements the characters do and fight is described.

The game gives you info-dumps on martial art swordplay. How it works, the different styles and how they fight. I honestly found this really refreshing. You put yourself into the system the different attacks. And you feel a lot more depth into the combat. Because you know what kind of movements the characters would do. This is makes the combat feel more like a actual martial art. I liked that realistic element. But it does make it somewhat tiresome to read at times.

There is also the alt-history info-dumps.. I am not entirely satisfied in how well understood the details. So many prefectures, cites, dates etc that has some meaning. But I don't know the importance because I am not native, nor have I studied the history/geography of Japan. I have rather mixed feelings over that. I could have googled all the stuff and read myself up on most of it, but it would take a while. So i didn't bother at the time. There is a time when the time put in isn't really worth it in terms of depth.

Mm the two pillars of time-consuming. Action info-dumps and alt-history. I have gotten in to them once or twice with Muramasa and Bakumatsu, but not interested enough to want to do them again soon. They are satisfyingly interesting though.

---

Reread a bit of Kami no ue no Mahoutsukai.

It's a mystery, but on top of that it's a case where the it's more about the characters making interesting speeches and taking interesting action and the whole layout of the story to be baffling uncommon, rather than trying to have the drama be realistic.

It's a story which makes sense against it's own rules, even though it's hard to relate it to reality.

Because of the strong prose and dialogue in important scenes, it'd be considerably difficult to translate. I don't even want to try translating it, since for so much of it, it's not just what they say, it's how they say it which is cool.

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I just finished Enkou Shoujo....what the fuck was that? the nukige tag makes a lot of sense now (I found out it was a nukige only after reading it >_>) the beginning was actually pretty good! the whole thing about helping an old friend who was just not very smart and bad at everything and got herself into prostitution and asked for your help, and the main character not finding meaning in anything after the injury, questioning her whole life (that's a really good premise of a vn right there!!!!!) but after that it was pure crap and the ending...  the ending :saber:

Spoiler

mako or should I say the pimp paco lol forced her to became a prostitute to help her figure out her life? WTF! what kind of stupid shit is that! and how the hell does it make sense with the whole story specially the first part! How did she become a pimp in the first place! how...why...when... who wrote this shit? :komari:

 

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9 hours ago, Tyrosyn said:

>reading something that is named Enkou Shoujo
>not thinking it's a nukige

not sure if serious :pyaa:

well I read what the vn was about and the title make sense in that context also like I said the plot setting was actually pretty interesting (a girl doing prostitution because she was bullied, didnt have any friends and wasnt smart at all) thus the enkoou shoujo, give me some credit for trying to be positive about this kind of plot :komari:

this is just a conjecture the setting was good because it was written by Okano Touya (one of the reason I read it) I dare you to read the first part until mako tells you "help me..." when you are leaving and tell me it's a bad setting I dare you :vinty: (please have some faith in me xD )

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Well, I finally got around to finishing Tokage no Shippo Kiri, and damn, it was pretty darn good. I definitely have to get around to playing the fandisk soon.

The game was really unique, and very interesting. I was expecting a rather shallow guro nukige, and got a tragic love story instead, which was really cool. The game was well written, the art was very nice (and damn, it had so many CGs considering it's length... Cyclet really pulled out all the stops in the CG/ art department for this one.) The characters were great, especially Shuu and Monobe, (that crazy bitch, lol.) The plot twists in the game kept taking me by surprise, and the dark atmosphere mixed with the romance was a very interesting combo.

The game overall just left me very satisfied with the way things were wrapped up in the routes, and I liked how you kind of have to play all the routes to truly understand reasons behind the characters' actions etc. (I was actually considering skipping Manaka's route. Glad I didn't, as the game would have felt a hell of a lot less impactful without it.)

 

I'm really liking these short Cyclet games. There is still a few that I haven't played yet that look interesting, so I'll have to get around to doing those.

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Spoiler

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So, took a break from VN after Koiken Otome, read some(Lots of) manga, caught up on some shows, studied a bit...now getting back into it because I love Senren*Banka's music(SHAMISEN!) 

and I have to say, the art's really nice, Mako is Super cute! Ninja Girls ftw! Nice Comedy story so far btw.

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So, I finished the Go route of Shin Koihime Musou now. Like expected, this was a lot better than the Shouko route - and also a lot darker. The Go faction was already in the original the most dramatic side, and it's even more so this time.

Unlike in the original KM the Go faction starts with Sheren in charge instead of her sister Renfa, and it's roughly split into two major arcs, the first one with Sheren as the faction leader and the second one with Renfa as the faction leader.

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The Sheren arc also starts with Kazuto arriving in the world of the Romance of the three Kingdoms and being accepted as a celestial messenger. But in contrast to the Shouko route there is fortunately no character overflow and the story focuses mainly on the Go family and their generals. Though, at the start it’s mainly Sheren, Meirin and Sai who form a rather powerful leader trio. Renfa and Shaoren just join later on. The main battles and events are still kind of similar to the Shouko route, just told from the Go perspective and with more focus on the interaction with the child ruler Miu.

Sheren itself was a surprisingly multifaceted character. Although she often shows a funny and teasing side, she’s also a powerful and charismatic leader who will show no hesitation to make harsh decisions or even kill personally if she deems it necessary. She could turn from funny to dead serious and back in the blink of an eye. A very characteristic scene was Miu’s betrayal. Miu is a child ruler not uncommon for that time and it’s clear that everything is still kind of a game for her. When Sheren finally confronts her and makes her clear that she will now face the consequences and DIE, Miu completely breaks. Fortunately, Sheren showed mercy and spared her but I don’t think that was her original intention.

Meirin also was a very pleasant surprise, since she was pretty much just a villainous dominatrix in the original KM, but here she’s a very responsible, mature and smart person. The side characters were also more quality than quantity this time. Miu and the ninja girl Minmei in particular were pretty cute.

Spoiler

The most impactful event in the route by far was Sheren falling victim to a Gi assassin. An act she unfortunately didn't survive which hit me pretty hard to be honest. I was almost in tears since she was my favorite character. :(

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But story-wise it was absolutely epic since the whole Go faction went crazy because of her. Even Gi’s leader Karin herself was in rage since the assassination wasn’t approved by her and she has the assassin being executed as a consequence. Like I said, everyone went crazy…

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After that Renfa ascends to the leader of the Go faction and her arc starts. And Renfa’s arc is a bit more about the personal development between her and the protagonist Kazuto. With the whole Go faction still in shock and sorrow, he’s able to offer more support as in the first arc against the combined competence of the leader trio of Sheren, Meirin and Sai. The end is very similar to the Shouko route though, with an alliance with Shouko against the Gi faction. 

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Despite being much better than the Shouko route, there were still some major flaws in the Go route too. The protagonist Kazuto often appears more as a side character and struggles to make any impact even if it gets better later on. The biggest flaw however are the underdeveloped personal stories during the resting scenes. It was obvious that they had to pay the price for including three major routes and adding an insane amount of questionable side characters. As a consequence, they made the glorious decision to ‘democratize’ the personal routes and give each character, regardless if main or side, an equal (low) amount of development time with about 4 CGs for everything ranging from H-scenes to event CG. <_<

The main stories itself are better written but suffer from the fact of getting somehow repetitive after a while since it’s essentially the same for all routes just told from another perspective. This gets particular obvious in the battle scenes since they are already told from the POV of the different factions. That makes sense with just one route, but not if you’ve routes for all factions anyway. The routes also didn't feel as rich and detailed as the original KM one for the obvious reason that they are much shorter. Overall, I would have preferred one or two bigger routes with different endings instead of the three smaller kinetic ones.

But I think BaseSon learned from their mistakes since each chapter of the new Eiyuutan has three clearly defined main heroines. But Kakumei will probably be the real thing: one large game for each faction route - that's the way it was meant to be. But for that reason I’m also thinking about skipping the Gi route completely and jumping directly to Shin Koihime Eiyuutan instead since it's already obvious from the CG section that it has far too many characters for its own good.

Rating for the Go route: 7.5/10 (Would have gotten more if the personal stories would have been more developed)

Overall rating for now without having played the Gi route yet. 7/10 (Shouko route drags the rating down)

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10 hours ago, ChaosRaven said:

But for that reason I’m also thinking about skipping the Gi route completely and jumping directly to Shin Koihime Eiyuutan instead since it's already obvious from the CG section that it has far too many characters for its own good.

I like the Wei route a little more than the Wu route, but part of that is because I liked Karin as a character.  The story of the route itself is definitely weaker than Wu's.

On the other hand, both of them blow the Shu route out of the water, without even trying.

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18 hours ago, Toranth said:

I like the Wei route a little more than the Wu route, but part of that is because I liked Karin as a character.  The story of the route itself is definitely weaker than Wu's.

Still a bit undecided about it. Karin is pretty okay as a character, but I'm usually more into the... busty types. ;)

Maybe I try a fast play-through, just focusing on Karin and Shia and ignoring the huge crowd of other heroines.

But I first need a bit of a change of pace, and it's about time that I finally start Mirai Nostalgia.

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done with everything except for re-word3 & omega no shikai´s final entry, which i´m going to continue sometime later. did no encounter new works of great value, so no going into detail there. time to start diving straight into Re-lief´s trial & then the long awaited DxD. Glory to NEETism, the faithful hikikomori that is i once again submitts to your pleasures

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Well I finished Rettou Kan, and it was a pretty good nukige. The angel route was much better than the demon route in my opinion, though both were pretty... entertaining :makina: . If you are looking for a dark nukige, you should definitely pick this one up. Nice art, lots of unique scenes and the game doesn't really try to take itself too seriously at any point in the story, which I like in my nukige. (I mean, you know right away that you are playing a nukige when the main character is literally called "protagonist." So great  :wahaha: )

 

Still not done with all my Cyclet games, next up is Kasshoku no Sei Senshi Aisha, HD edition. I recently learned from Tyrosyn that the CGs have been cropped quite a bit in this version, which sucks, so I'll probably run the normal version next to it like I did with G-senjou no Maou. I know it's not a big deal most of the time, but I still hate CG cropping.

(And yes, I am definitely turning into a total Cyclet fanboy. They got me. I'm beyond saving. RIP.)

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Despite playing more VNs than before, I've mostly stopped posting my impressions since then. There is the fact that finishing an untranslated VN doesn't feel like an accomplishment worth celebrating anymore, however there are mainly two reasons:

1) My impressions of the VN are too personal to be worth mentioning. "I loved that aspect of the game, but I'm sure most people wouldn't care", "I hated it, but I'm sure most people wouldn't mind". あと、単に恥ずかしい。

2) The game left such a bad impression that I prefer to forget about it asap. I think it's a healthy attitude to help one get through the regular disappointments on one's VN world exploration journey.

 

This time, I played Aiyoku no Eustia, and simply put - I didn't like it much. However, I wanted to discuss the issues I have with the characters of the story.


Starting with Caim, specifically. I'm sick of his tough guy attitude. He's not such a bad protagonist, he doesn't find himself at a loss for words every time someone makes a seemingly sound argument, he's capable in a fight - there's that. But

Spoiler

he's like an empty shell for almost the entire game - not living for anything, unable to strongly love anyone - the writers sacrificed the meat of the game, as well as all the other heroine endings for the sake of Eustia's finale.

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And for what? For Caim, a man who had lived a life of walking on a razor's edge and supposedly seen it all, who finally gathered his resolve to sacrifice the remnants of the human race and release Eustia from suffering, to be easily tricked by his brother, whom he can't match even then? なにその安っぽい覚悟。幻滅した。

As for the ending itself - if I was writing for the game and wanted it to sell, I'd do it the same way, but personally I'd prefer a "together in death" ending. Something like this:

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When Caim loses literally an arm and a leg, you think he's paid the price for his mistakes - only to magically have them back the next scene because at some point Eustia got a new ability we've never heard of. Now, I don't really hate Caim and don't want him to live the rest of his life in despair and without a shred of hope - it's this kind of writing that bothers me. Making it look like there's no turning back, then copping out of it. I see it as pretentious.

It also doesn't make sense that the first Saint wanted to bring the city down all along, yet never did so. Did I miss something?

He also has less face than the protagonist of Fortune Arterial, which was nowhere near as plot-focused, and chronologically came before Eustia.

 

Moving on to Irene. I can't tell if August made an awful heroine by accident or was intentionally making fun of religious people with this one.

Spoiler

Colette is the worst kind of friend. She's extremely cold to Laviria, with whom she's been through thick and thin. In spite of everything Lavi has done for her and even after learning she's been cutting off her wings in agony Colette gives zero shits. Their "reconciliation" at the end of the chapter doesn't change the fact that she treats Lavi like a servant, remaining self-centered to the bitter end.

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With that and her overzealous, blind faith, I can't imagine anyone actually liking her.

 

Finally, something that concerns pretty much the whole cast. Basically, they're too Japanese, despite the setting.

1) Gladly accepting whatever unreasonable burdens other people push onto you. Letting others set your direction in life as if it's the most natural thing ever. Applies the most to Eris, Irene, Eustia.

2) Pride. Caim loves to lecture Fione, Irene and Licia about how spoiled they are, bringing up the miserable state of things in Rougoku, yet he and other characters, who are in a much direr financial situation, stubbornly refuse to accept easy money, insisting on earning it instead. I'm sure those prostitutes love their job and wouldn't jump at shortcuts to leaving the brothel. :amane:

3) 恩返し (returning the favor). This is related to #1, but specifically involves wasting your life away for no good reason, in a way that won't benefit anyone.

Spoiler

Eris should know Caim doesn't want her money. In fact, it doesn't make sense that she earned 600 golden coins (was it?) in just a few months' time by working as a doctor, though that's not what matters.

Oh my, I'm really negative about the culture, aren't I? Then again, the VN is written by the Japanese for the Japanese, so it's understandable.

 

I apologize for only touching upon the negative points and making it sound like it's the worst thing ever. It's not. I quite enjoyed the early parts of the game, as well as some specific things later in the story - and thanks to the complete absence of slice-of-life outside of non-Eustia heroine endings and side stories it was an exciting read all the way. Fione was decent, Licia was good and is my favorite character in this game. This post isn't intended as a review and is more of an outlet.

Whether you agree or disagree with my impressions, I'd be glad to get some feedback.

 

P.S. Listening to "Roots" was what kept me in the mood while writing up this post.

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Started playing Kyonyuu Fantasy Gaiden 2 After and while I was skeptical about a continuation from what had been a satisfying conclusion to Lute and co.'s story this is looking to be a worthy sequel so far. While it sucks that we only have a few of the heroines in this (though the story does have a reasonable explanation for their absence...though damn I still miss Gladys :vinty:) the story's building up well especially in Ostashia's situation in being a dictatorship on the verge of self destruction and giving us a legit intimidating villain. Really interested to see in how this plays out and has me hopeful of more installments in Lute and co's story (which will probably focus on the country of Sultan next).

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Well, thanks to all the talk about this, I caved and got the JP version. (I really have a weakness for kitsune heroines... and nekos... basically any kemonomimi type heroine.)

 

The game doesn't really waste time, and you kinda just jump into an H-scene after a fast introduction to the characters, why the girls have animal features and the God dude who governs the place. Bla bla, short story introduction.

The girls are all already in love with the MC, and the harem vibe really is strong with this one. (Not complaining of course. :makina: )  All four girls have a unique design which is pretty nice, but Tsubaki and Sumire are my favorites for sure.

Tsubaki

Spoiler

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Sumire

Spoiler

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I love how their shrine maiden outfits are all different, and suits their unique features.

 

I didn't really expect a deep story when going into this, and so far that was a correct assesment. But hey, it's a nukige, so that should be a given I suppose. Haven't gotten too far yet, but I would imagine I can get through this pretty quickly. Overall, first impression: it looks very nice. The art is pretty, the characters are cute and unique, and... well, boobs and stuff. :illya:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I finished ... harem vacation. (The title is just too damn long, rofl.) It was a pretty entertaining nukige overall. Nice H, actually funny humor and some pretty quirky and entertaining heroines. The CG art felt a bit inconsistent at times, but other than that I really don't have any complaints about it. Wouldn't exactly call it a masterpiece, but hey, it was a nice, short read. The best part of the game was in my opinion, Nazuna. She is just priceless; switching between being a total slob and a "brilliant" inventor, she is all over the place. Also, her speech pattern is adorable, and I enjoyed seeing a heroine with animal features that wasn't just your standard kitsune/ fox/ neko/ dog.

She is a tanuki... girl? No idea what the "neko" equivalent of that would be, lol.

Spoiler

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Anyways, I have now started playing Hakoniwa Logic, at long last. Exams are making my reading speed quite slow at the moment, but I played up to the opening so far, and it's been great.

The story actually interests me, and it looks like it is going to manage to balance the slice of life and the drama nicely. (The flowchart in game looks a bit scary though... I was thinking of playing this without a walkthrough, but idk... hopefully figuring out the routes in this won't be too hard, lol.)

Just like in Kimisora, it looks like the heroines are going to be pretty awesome: (Sorry for the random quality and the weird edges.)

Spoiler

 

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I have already fallen in love with Kirika. She is quirky as hell, and it's so great. She also uses boku, and has a bunch of small details to her that I like in heroines.

 

Going to have to uninstall this nude patch though, if it's possible. The fact that the two main heroines are naked 24/7 is a bit distracting, rofl. I didn't even think of that when I installed it :wahaha:

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Reading Sakura no Mori † Dreamers. Still in the common route, but I can already see where this is going, because

Spoiler

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Now with monsters evil spirits.

 

Evidenced by

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and

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Seriously, so much is borrowed from it. The dead lover who hasn't fully left the protagonist's side (wife and on bad terms in the movie), the way a group of people enters someone's dreams (with one person maintaining the "connection" and the rest of the group entering, lying in those chairs), the three layers of dreams which have to be accessed one after another and must be returned from in the reverse order, the spinning top... Y u make it so obvious, Kure? :rimu:

Don't get me wrong though, I do like the game. Here's hoping Sakuranomori develops on Inception - that's what multiple-route VNs and spiritual sequels are for, amirite?

 

It's only natural to expect *that* from Madoka route

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Kureha resembles G-senjou no Maou's Haru quite a bit. The same type of airheadedness, shall we say. Also the long hair and similar hair colour.

 

lol @ recognizable breast shape in casual clothes. And here I thought Kureha was 貧乳... that's unfortunate.

Moonstone's art style is great as always. In Natsu no Iro no Nostalgia, the sprites were actually better than CGs (especially Misaki and Shouko), which felt a little blurry. I'm not sure about this game yet, but a lot of it is done in horror style, so it's not really noticeable even if that problem is still there.

 

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