ChuSinGura: is it recommended?

[voidpointer]

I was looking at playing the ChuSinGura series, now that all the games are translated to English. It looks like all of the releases are available on Steam. However, was this game originally 18+? I've read bits and pieces around the interwebs about how this game is heavily censored. Is there any truth to this hearsay?

Besides that, vndb shows most people voted 9/10 for this game which is a pretty high score. So I guess that the game is at least decent with some plot?

Any feedback, non-spoiler reviews, and recommendations are welcome :-)

[Asonn]

The game is really good and even the garbage tier TL doesn't take that away, however the writing is very awkward and with translating errors. awkward cuts where the 18+ stuff happens. Like the part where your loli sisters walks in naked in the bathroom is not censored like with a bath towel which some companies do, but is just removed from the game. 

The engine isn't all that great either. with effects being buggy and not playing as the same time as the text. but nonetheless ChuSinGura is still a enjoyable read I would say. you can try the first chapter for free on steam and buy the other chapters if you liked it. 

[Nier]

The game is basically butchered as it is, so as of right now it wouldn't be worth it for most people unless someone releases a patch similar to that:

https://vndb.org/r27816

Or that:

https://vndb.org/r42351

Basically a patch that let's you patches to english the japanese version.

[voidpointer]

This sounds like another IMHHW butchering. For that VN, which i did read, I applied a hard-to-find unofficial translation patch and it retained the game's original content. So per Nier's comment, I assume a similar patch exists for all 5 volumes of the game?

[Nier]

6 minutes ago, voidpointer said:

So per Nier's comment, I assume a similar patch exists for all 5 volumes of the game?

No, my comment said "unless someone releases a patch similar to...".

 

5 minutes ago, voidpointer said:

This sounds like another IMHHW butchering.

That's basically it, except this time it is Steam only. (If My Heart Had Wings had a physical release too)

 

[Mr Poltroon]

5 minutes ago, voidpointer said:

This sounds like another IMHHW butchering. For that VN, which i did read, I applied a hard-to-find unofficial translation patch and it retained the game's original content. So per Nier's comment, I assume a similar patch exists for all 5 volumes of the game?

You're in clear need of clarification.

Firstly: IMHHW had such a poor translation and censoring that a full route was completely impossible to understand. If I were to compare the translations, I subjectively prefer this one.

Secondly: IMHHW went so far as to censor mentions of breasts and kissing scenes. This version does no such thing, and actually remains pretty risque (the following images are from the steam version:

What was effectively removed was the loli bathing scene, which is admittedly troubling to bring to the west regardless of which approach they took.
In that last post you can also see some engine differences between the original and this port of the mobile all-ages version.

[Nandemonai]

Even if it's not IMHHW-level bad, they still bowdlerized the title quite extensively, and basically said "uncensored release never happening, tough".  If you give these people money, they're going to want to do this to more titles.   It's up to you whether you think that's a good thing or a bad thing.  I remember the bad old days from 20 years ago; I think it's a bad thing, so I'm not supporting this company.

[Nier]

ChuSingura46+1 at it's core is an 18+ game, an Eroge, the game had an all-age release in Japan for the PS Vita, the PS Vita version which of course had the sex scenes removed and so entire sections of the game had to be re-written to make up for the removal of the sex scenes, here with ChuSingura46+1 Steam the sex scenes are simply removed whitout any such accomodation.

 

[Mr Poltroon]

4 minutes ago, Nier said:

ChuSingura46+1 at it's core is an 18+ game, an Eroge, the game had an all-age release in Japan for the PS Vita, the PS Vita version which of course had the sex scenes removed and so entire sections of the game had to be re-written to make up for the removal of the sex scenes, here with ChuSingura46+1 Steam the sex scenes are simply removed whitout any such accomodation.

That is weird. This release continues to puzzle me. They've messed up and made CG's disappear before, but I was fairly sure this was a direct port of the all-ages version.

[voidpointer]

So I guess the moral of the story here is to wait for unofficial patch or don't play. Honestly I'd rather not play a title than play it and:

1) Support the company with my money so they butcher stuff again and
2) never get to experience the original content, regardless of controversy.

I really hate butchering of VNs to any degree, I'm with a few of the others regarding not supporting this title until it's done right.

I appreciate the information everyone. It's unfortunate and I'm very disappointed, but looks like I'll move on to other titles.

[Nier]

14 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

That is weird. This release continues to puzzle me. They've messed up and made CG's disappear before, but I was fairly sure this was a direct port of the all-ages version.

It is not, the PS Vita version rights belongs to the publisher "Dramatic Creates", the publisher of the Steam version only pocess the rights of the PC Version from the developers themselves, "inre".

There are presently 3 different versions of ChuSingura46+1:

ChuSingura46+1 (PC, 18+, Japan Exclusive)

ChuSingura46+1 V (PS Vita, All-Ages, Japan Exclusive)

ChuSingura46+1 S (Steam, All-Ages)

ChuSingura46+1 S is the Japanese PC version censored for Steam release, with cut content and editings toward content that would fall under the "18+" classification. As of right now "ChuSingura46+1 S", it is the only way to play the game in english.

[ChaosRaven]

The VN is rated highly both in Japan as in the west. However, I'm honestly a bit suspicious about it. If at least 50% of what I heard about is true, then the story is apparently very serious, violent and borderline utsuge. But if that's true than the over-moegified comedy art style and all girls cast is not only unfitting but also misleading. A more realistic art style like in Hanachirasu would have probably been much better fitting for that type of story.

And the Time Loop tag almost screams for repetitive boredom a la "Buhuuu, heroine X died, but how convenient, just turn time back and try again." x 1000. There aren't even words to describe how overdone that is. On the other hand, it's probably at least decently written, otherwise it wouldn't be so highly rated. (Even though I thought that too about Root Double...)

Don't really care about the missing H-scenes. It's apparently not much (unlike in IMHHW) and considering the VN has bestiality tag I consider it no loss since I hate that type of fetish content anyway.

[WinterfuryZX]

1 hour ago, Mr Poltroon said:

That is weird. This release continues to puzzle me. They've messed up and made CG's disappear before, but I was fairly sure this was a direct port of the all-ages version.

They redrwan the CGs and edited the text themselves, they don't have the right to mess with the PSvita version. They messed something up in the process and Emoshichi CG doesn't appears the first time it should have, that's just a technical issue they may already have solved, not intended censorship.

Anyway people here are exagerating, the situation is not that catastrofic all the bloody scenes are 100% intact.

1 hour ago, ChaosRaven said:

"Buhuuu, heroine X died, but how convenient, just turn time back and try again."

lol time loop doesn't work like that.

[Zenophilious]

Here's an official screenshot they're using to promote the game on its Steam page.  There's apparently quite a few similar instances of shit-tier writing, which just means that someone didn't do their job properly, which isn't too surprising if you've been following their failed attempts to Kickstart the translation and the events following said failures.

Personally, I'd recommend that you stay away and either learn Japanese to read it, or hope that someone translates it unofficially years from now, in its original form.  It's objectively inferior than both the 18+ PC release and the all-ages Vita release, and you shouldn't reward inre (IMO) for trying to milk Steam users without putting serious effort into making a good release, both in terms of functionality and in a good translation.

[Toranth]

5 hours ago, Nier said:

ChuSingura46+1 at it's core is an 18+ game, an Eroge, the game had an all-age release in Japan for the PS Vita, the PS Vita version which of course had the sex scenes removed and so entire sections of the game had to be re-written to make up for the removal of the sex scenes, here with ChuSingura46+1 Steam the sex scenes are simply removed whitout any such accomodation.

This is incorrect: The Steam release IS the Vita version.  All the same text and graphical changes made for the PS Vita all-ages release are present here on Steam as well.  There are rumors that some of the CGs removed from the Vita release were redrawn and added for the Steam version, but I don't know (and doubt it).  Actually, they may have used the voices from the original PC release - there are times when the character voices say things I don't think Sony will allow them to say on the Vita, and that doesn't match the Steam release's English or Japanese text.

The translation is varied; it's obvious they used multiple translators and applied different levels of editing at different parts.  It's all understandable, and generally correct (or close to correct) English.  Just not very good English.  As patches have been released, they've fixed some of the more obvious problems.  I don't know if they will continue that now that the entire thing is out, though.  Hopefully, chapters 4 and 5 will get some attention, at least.

 

As for "butchered" - No.  The original game had very large amounts of odd and unnecessary fanservice.  Random bath scenes, people tripping while not wearing underwear, stripping to pull a frog out of their clothes, etc.  The sex scenes were the same way - only one of them has any bearing on the plot at all, and that is entirely covered by the surrounding scene's dialogue (even in the original version).  Mr Poltroon linked to the other ChuSinGura 46+1 thread, so you can check there for more details if you want. But really, no, removing the adult content did not damage the game in any way, as the story is completely intact.

 

And the story is why people rate the game highly.  It's a well-written chuuni story, with solid characters.  It is based on the classic 47 Ronin story, so people go into it already knowing a lot about what's going to happen... but despite that, the details of HOW it happens, and what each character does, thinks, or feels while doing it - that's the story, and it is good.  The time loop is not convenient, or friendly.  The violence is still there; plenty of blood and people getting killed - there's no "He was just knocked out!" stuff going on here.

 

Of course, I'm a big fan of the original release.  I consider it one of the top 10 VNs released in the past 15 years, in any language.  It may be that I am willing to overlook some problems with the Steam release that would bother me more for a different game, so feel free to take my opinion with a dose of salt.  But personally, I would strongly recommend that anyone that likes chuuni VNs to get the game.  At the very least, play through Chapter 1, which is Free on Steam.  If you can't stand the game or the translation, then the rest isn't for you.  If you like it, though... it just gets better.

[Nier]

2 minutes ago, Toranth said:

This is incorrect: The Steam release IS the Vita version.

It is not, the rights holders are "Dramatic Creates", the publishers of "ChuSingura46+1 V" which was exclusively released in Japan for the PS Vita, it was confirmed multiple times by the english publishers that they do not hold the rights of the PS Vita version "ChuSingura46+1 V", "Dramatic Creates" solely does. They have confirmed however that they acquired the rights of the developers "inre" who are also the publishers of the 18+ PC version "ChuSingura46+1", they therefore had to work with what they had (the 18+ PC version developed and published by "inre") to create the "ChuSingura46+1 S" version that was released on Steam.

[Ningen]

6 minutes ago, Toranth said:

This is incorrect: The Steam release IS the Vita version.  All the same text and graphical changes made for the PS Vita all-ages release are present here on Steam as well.  Actually, they may have used the voices from the original PC release - there are times when the character voices say things I don't think Sony will allow them to say on the Vita, and that doesn't match the Steam release's English or Japanese text.

 

 

They have stated they don't have the rights to the Vita version several times.

Where do you people get such exclusive info?

 

The PSV version added new scenes and recorded new lines to make the up for the gaps caused by the removal of sex scenes.

The Steam version redrew some CGs, but that's it.

The sexy just got cut.

 

[Suzu Fanatic]

I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to (sopposedly) bad TLs, to the point I can completely ignore some of the flaws unless pointed out to me - but the TL in the screenshots (and all of Chapter 1) are pretty shameful for an official release.

And knowing how things typically go, they'll blame the fanbase for the low sales.

If they can't be bothered to offer a educated, professional translation (or at least written in proper English without spelling errors), I can't be bothered to invest money into it.

 

Spelling errors are kiddie level - zero fucks are given if they can't even bother with those.

[Nier]

5 minutes ago, Ningen said:

 

They have stated they don't have the rights to the Vita version several times.

Where do you people get such exclusive info?

The Steam version of Umineko IS the PS3 version, they just made it look like crap in comparison for some reasons though

[Toranth]

6 minutes ago, Ningen said:

They have stated they don't have the rights to the Vita version several times.

Sorry, let me be more specific:  The Steam release is based on the mobage version which was in turn built off the Vita version.  All three versions were developed and published by different companies, so it doesn't surprise me that NextNinja, the publishers this time, din't have complete rights to all three other versions.

The original PC release, when compared to the English Steam release, is missing nothing but the adult content.  There was no story content removed - period.  People complaining that the game is somehow damaged because of that are wrong.

[Nier]

25 minutes ago, Toranth said:

The original PC release, when compared to the English Steam release, is missing nothing

 

25 minutes ago, Toranth said:

but the adult content.

Well clearly it's been butchered by having missing content that was cut and edited for Steam release resulting in less content than the original japanese PC version. The changes from the Vita version to account for the removed 18+ content to fill the gap are not even there.

At least Sekai Project had the decency of getting the PS Vita version of their Grisaia All-Ages version, just like MangaGamer had the decency of getting the PSP version for their All-Ages Princess Evangile release, just like JAST USA has the decency of getting the PSP version for their All-Ages Seinarukana release.

[WinterfuryZX]

30 minutes ago, Toranth said:

Sorry, let me be more specific:  The Steam release is based on the mobage version which was in turn built off the Vita version.  All three versions were developed and published by different companies, so it doesn't surprise me that NextNinja, the publishers this time, din't have complete rights to all three other versions.

The original PC release, when compared to the English Steam release, is missing nothing but the adult content.  There was no story content removed - period.  People complaining that the game is somehow damaged because of that are wrong.

No it's based entirely only on the original pc release (the 5 chapter omnibus)

[ChaosRaven]

Just curious, since this is based on the story of the 47 ronin, I assume the heroines all die at the end?

[Nier]

2 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:

Just curious, since this is based on the story of the 47 ronin, I assume the heroines all die at the end?

Please keep this free from spoilers, make a seperate thread for this if you must.

[WinterfuryZX]

2 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:

Just curious, since this is based on the story of the 47 ronin, I assume the heroines all die at the end?

In the first 3 chapters they all commit seppuku at the end.