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AX - Anime Expo 2018 News & Announcements


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My favourite announcement this AX has to be Harumade Kururu, followed by the confirmation of YU-NO and the announcement of Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi. MG didn't have anything this time to catch my interest, but you can't always get what you want. And while those titles aren't at the top of my most wanted list, it could have been far worse.

The reason why some people are disappointed is just that the VN fanbase consist of many groups. Some want nukige, some want otome games or BL or chuunige and so on. And with only a handful of publishers and only a limited number of releases to distribute between those groups it's impossible to make everyone happy. In the end VNs are medium and in the same way that people aren't fans of all movies or all books, people are not fan of all VN. But that's just my guess.

Overall I enjoyed what AX had to offer and look forward to Otakon.

Edited by Formlose Gestalt
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Maybe I overestimated popularity of Rance? Seems like many people aren't happy with it xD Back in 2015/2016, I remember people screaming "Give us more Rance!"... and now that Rance is coming, most of the reactions I saw so far were "meh" (granted, there's quite a few people still excited about it, but still... I was expecting more people to be hyped).

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15 minutes ago, Infernoplex said:

Maybe I overestimated popularity of Rance? Seems like many people aren't happy with it xD Back in 2015/2016, I remember people screaming "Give us more Rance!"... and now that Rance is coming, most of the reactions I saw so far were "meh" (granted, there's quite a few people still excited about it, but still... I was expecting more people to be hyped).

Those impressions can be quite subjective. If 5-10 people here say I'm not interested in X it can make quite a different impression. Even if it is less than 10 people. Compared to 2-3 years ago it could just be different people active on the forum. In any case I don't think Rance is any less popular now.

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25 minutes ago, Infernoplex said:

Maybe I overestimated popularity of Rance? Seems like many people aren't happy with it xD Back in 2015/2016, I remember people screaming "Give us more Rance!"... and now that Rance is coming, most of the reactions I saw so far were "meh" (granted, there's quite a few people still excited about it, but still... I was expecting more people to be hyped).

I can't really tell the difference. Both before and after MG licensed Rance, quite a number of people have liked the series while at the same time a significant number of people don't like it.

Looks at who are upset about Rance. What they are actually saying is that they are upset about title X or genre Y wasn't announced. Such outbursts will then trashtalk whatever was announced, regardless of which titles they are because in the end the point is that it's not the correct one. I would be careful not to put too much into such outbursts. MG knows how well Rance sells and they have 4 announced, yet unreleased Rance titles. I think that's a strong hint that there is still a strong interest in Rance.

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17 minutes ago, Formlose Gestalt said:

Those impressions can be quite subjective. If 5-10 people here say I'm not interested in X it can make quite a different impression. Even if it is less than 10 people. Compared to 2-3 years ago it could just be different people active on the forum. In any case I don't think Rance is any less popular now.

 

4 minutes ago, tymmur said:

I can't really tell the difference. Both before and after MG licensed Rance, quite a number of people have liked the series while at the same time a significant number of people don't like it.

Looks at who are upset about Rance. What they are actually saying is that they are upset about title X or genre Y wasn't announced. Such outbursts will then trashtalk whatever was announced, regardless of which titles they are because in the end the point is that it's not the correct one. I would be careful not to put too much into such outbursts. MG knows how well Rance sells and they have 4 announced, yet unreleased Rance titles. I think that's a strong hint that there is still a strong interest in Rance.

Yeah, I know, it's subjective after all. I may have been paying attention to too much bickering about it on random corners of the net, so it could be that most people who care about it aren't too vocal at the moment, hence I haven't registered their voiced yet :D But truth be told, more than a few want some other Alicesoft titles, not just Rance, so yeah, I understand their sentiment too.

But at the end, I understand MG as well. I didn't think even for a moment that MG is making a mistake here. Rance outsells everything else, that's 100% true, no matter what people are talking on the net.

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22 minutes ago, alchemicalhaze said:

I would be more interested in the Rance series if it was at least partially voiced. Might play the series one day, but it is pretty low on my to read list.

Haven't played Rance yet but from what I've heard, it is in fact partially voiced (just like Evenicle and Beat Blades Haruka) xD

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1 hour ago, Infernoplex said:

Haven't played Rance yet but from what I've heard, it is in fact partially voiced (just like Evenicle and Beat Blades Haruka) xD

Rance is not voiced at all. The only Rance that has voices is Rance 03 (remake of Rance III), which is not currently in the pipeline for localisation, as far as we know.

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24 minutes ago, alchemicalhaze said:

Not according to vndb. Every rance game is labeled as not voiced. If that is incorrect, can someone confirm?

 

24 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

Rance is not voiced at all. The only Rance that has voices is Rance 03 (remake of Rance III), which is not currently in the pipeline for localisation, as far as we know.

Kek... Now that really sucks. I thought it was partially voiced. Don't remember who told me now, but I really thought it was partially voiced.

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13 minutes ago, Infernoplex said:

Haven't played Rance yet but from what I've heard, it is in fact partially voiced (just like Evenicle and Beat Blades Haruka) xD

Not true. By the time VNs started having voices, Rance already had the style of containing way too many characters to make voices realistic, not to mention lines. By not being restricted by voice recording costs, the number of characters can explode. Like 50+ named females with spoken lines in H scenes kind of explode. (this kind of explain the number of lines as well. They have big scripts)

Another issue: making a character from a previous title appear. If the same character appear in two VNs, ideally that character should be voiced by the same person. What do you do with characters appearing in 5+ Rance titles across 1-2 decades? What if it's 10+ titles? Combine this with the high number of characters in each title and you have a nightmare keeping all the voices you need for the next title.

While it may sound odd by modern standards, Rance is actually better without voices because while voices themselves would be good, they would restrict development of something, which is actually better than voices. Normally voiced VNs have a set of heroines say 5 and then very few other people, if any. In the Rance world, you can go into a shop and there is a full featured female character tending the shop. Same for the next and the next etc. In other words the Rance world is way more of a full world than normally seen in VNs.

14 minutes ago, Mr Poltroon said:

The only Rance that has voices is Rance 03 (remake of Rance III), which is not currently in the pipeline for localisation, as far as we know.

Yeah, apparently it's fully voiced. I'm not really sure why because after releasing that voiced version Alicesoft went back to releasing unvoiced Rance titles. Maybe they tried to see if sales would increase and it didn't. Luckily it doesn't look like they decided to stick to restricting the full Rance world experience.

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7 minutes ago, tymmur said:

Yeah, apparently it's fully voiced. I'm not really sure why because after releasing that voiced version Alicesoft went back to releasing unvoiced Rance titles. Maybe they tried to see if sales would increase and it didn't. Luckily it doesn't look like they decided to stick to restricting the full Rance world experience.

Rance 03 was the last Rance game they made before Rance X.
Rance X has at least 50 characters with a prominent role, and well over 200 named and established characters that appear and are part of the story (there are 9 games in the series after all). Whilst they could have perhaps meddled in some sort of partial voice acting for it, they probably decided to not try for voices again due to the sheer scale of it. Tradition might have also played a role, with practically all other titles having no voices, and people who only played the most recent games not counting remakes would be used to the lack of voices.

Edit: That is to say, if they were working on a Rance with a smaller scale after 03, perhaps they would have chosen to voice it.

Edited by Mr Poltroon
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3 minutes ago, tymmur said:

By the time VNs started having voices, Rance already had the style of containing way too many characters to make voices realistic, not to mention lines. By not being restricted by voice recording costs, the number of characters can explode. Like 50+ named females with spoken lines in H scenes kind of explode. (this kind of explain the number of lines as well. They have big scripts)

Another issue: making a character from a previous title appear. If the same character appear in two VNs, ideally that character should be voiced by the same person. What do you do with characters appearing in 5+ Rance titles across 1-2 decades? What if it's 10+ titles? Combine this with the high number of characters in each title and you have a nightmare keeping all the voices you need for the next title.

While it may sound odd by modern standards, Rance is actually better without voices because while voices themselves would be good, they would restrict development of something, which is actually better than voices. Normally voiced VNs have a set of heroines say 5 and then very few other people, if any. In the Rance world, you can go into a shop and there is a full featured female character tending the shop. Same for the next and the next etc. In other words the Rance world is way more of a full world than normally seen in VNs.

Yes, no voices certainly gives you more free space to do much more with the world building and it allows for huge scripts with lots of characters to show for. Still, I prefer titles with voice acting more. One of the reasons I find it hard to enjoy EVNs is because they are unvoiced. It bothers my immersion. It's not a deal breaker, but still...

Yeah, it has its advantages, no doubt about it. But between a more limited world with voices and an almost unlimited world without voices... I'd be more interested in a title with voices and a limited world :D  Yeah, I know, Rance certainly has its own charm that can make it work better without voices and I am not disputing that. It's just a matter of preference to me xD

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Well, let's look at all the announcements, then.

JAST USA

Spoiler

Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi.
I wish this was a less talked about Visual Novel, because, ordinarily, I would've played it with little to no knowledge of what it was about and be surprised. As is, I'm not even sure I want to play it.
On the other hand, I do think that VNs which are not what they seem are kind of unfair to a player. What if I start something I won't enjoy because the marketing was purposefully misleading? How much wasted time would that be?

I have no interest in BL titles at this time.

Spike Chunsoft

Spoiler

YU-NO
I am happy to hear of this. I've heard good things about the original, so it's nice to be able to experience the story with a remastered version. It's coming to steam!
I have no interest on the sexual content so I will likely not be affected at all by any substantial changes to either the script or the CGs.
Speaking of which, the art was all redone, and some people prefer the old designs, which is understandable; the aesthetics that were common at the time the VN originally came out were different from what they are today.
I quite like the new ones, and really, since I'll only play the remaster, there is no need to submit myself to the old designs. I'll be happier not knowing on the off-chance that I do prefer them.

There's also an announcement for a new game by a prominent individual for the Zero Escape series, but I have no particular opinion as of yet.

Frontwing

Spoiler

Lilitales
I am no stranger to H-RPGs, and so I might like this. I might also not. It depends on its contents. Is it just rape, or is there willing stuff? Is the rape optional? Is the story otherwise interesting enough to me that I can just skip over any scenes I dislike?
I don't know enough to make the judgement on whether I'd like the game. I'll have to learn more about its contents. Game mechanics, characters, etcetera.

Denpasoft

Spoiler

I Walk Among Zombies
Seems to be either a dark title or simply contain dark content with little else of interest to offer. From what I've heard, I am not currently interested. Perhaps I will hear more in the future.

Harumade, Kururu.
I have heard a lot of good things about this one. As usual, this means it is not the typical moege I am looking for, and reviews I've read have elaborated slightly more than what I'd have liked on its contents. I think I will find a way to enjoy it, even if it turns out to tackle themes that are not to my taste. Looking forward to it, and hopefully I will enjoy more about it than the, uh, harem?

9 -Nine- Episode 1
I will not start yet another episodic VN series. Perhaps this is becoming a fad, but it serves only to provoke and annoy me. It does more harm than good, even if it can indeed do good...

Re;Lord 2
Like with this title. Here is an episodic title that drew me in. With a sufficiently long and self-contained story, I could actually enjoy the first one in the series. A lot. The comedy was very much to my taste, tackling politics, corruption, and critical character flaws. Plenty of running gags, one might say. And the protagonist is voiced, making it better than all other VNs without such protagonists.

Majo Koi Nikki
What I've heard of this title has indicated that it is likely more emotional than what I look for, exactly. I will want to try it at some point, however, because it's still got cute girls and @Fred the Barber worked on it and I really want to read something he worked on because I've managed to avoid them all thus far.

I do not know enough of the OELVNs to be sure that I am interested at this point. I will need them to be released before I can make a judgement.

Mangagamer

Spoiler

Lilycle Rainbow Stage!!!
I was originally afraid that this all ages Yuri would be no more than undertones and subtext. Thankfully, looking at the trailer, there are kisses and plenty of cuddling. It is everything I could ask for, so I will be sure to enjoy it.

Rance IX - The Helmanian Revolution
I expected the Rance games on the pipeline to be released before further announcements, but this is good! Rance games are, in general, large and require either engine work or substantial testing, when not both, in order to prepare for release. If they were announced and worked on one by one, then you could risk lengthier waits between titles than would be desirable. See the 18 months since the release of Rance VI.
As is, Rance IX is already mostly translated, allowing for a smooth release schedule.

Rance X - Showdown 
At least, until this behemoth comes along. I think you'd need to join up all chapters ever written for the Higurashi series in order to have a script larger than what Rance X holds.
Precisely because of its size, I was afraid Mangagamer would not want to tackle this VN. I am happy to be proved wrong, and happy for the lack of voice acting for facilitating this process.
Due to its sheer size, it's actually quite possible that Rance 01 and/or 03 may be translated and released by the time Rance X is ready for release. That is an intriguing and hopeful possibility. However, unlike some others, I am not worried for the lack of a translated Rance 03. Even if it were to be translated, I can imagine a lot of people would not want to go from VI to Sengoku to Quest to IX to 03. Many more casual fans will simply follow the chronological order without jumping back to titles from way way back (even if they are remasters).
In short, I am happy to have the guarantee that Rance X will see the light in the West, completing a truly epic game saga. I've really not played many other series with such history, and certainly not that captivate me this much.

Askys has announced no titles for the PC, and therefore no title I could play. Although... PS4 remains a reluctant possibility that I may consider tackling in the future.
I will comment that I have noticed every otome protagonist seems to look the exact same somehow. I will ask Eclipsed to confirm, as I believe he has played some. @Eclipsed

 

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On 7/8/2018 at 4:56 PM, Mr Poltroon said:


I will comment that I have noticed every otome protagonist seems to look the exact same somehow. I will ask Eclipsed to confirm, as I believe he has played some. @Eclipsed

 

I think I only played like Code;Realize and that's it, but yes, all otome protagonists look the same :P

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On 07/07/2018 at 8:02 AM, Veshurik said:

So, I still waiting a new about "Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart", remembering the flayer on Anime Expo 2016 from Frontwing or who was that...

Maybe, they are still doing the translation, but I don't know, even anime already released (it is so stupid and useless, so, I really want to get that VN in English already).

Well, I think everything begin here, 

And now, I tried ask the frontwing, and i got a reply:
uxavbl.png

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  • 3 weeks later...

Pretty late for the tier list here, so I decided to list the tier here seeing that Otakon here is coming closer. Here's the tier for this year AX, although to tell the truth it's been an average one because before AX we did have two big releases (Chaos Child and Evenicle) and therefore the releases were overshadowed the AX here (At least that's what I think here)

Very Good

Seeing that I've been keep my eyes constantly on Majokoi updates for almost two years, it should've been obvious that it would be one VN that I've been looking into, moreso if we knew the writer for this was Nijima Yuu. I just hope that Sekai will managed to release this by the end of 2018, although seeing their track record in regard of the release I wouldn't be so sure about that. As for Harukuru, I've been looking forward to this 'nukige' from the seiyuu alone since last year AX, especially Shizuka's seiyuu who was Shimizu Ai (She's your favorite seiyuu, isn't that right @TexasDice?). For IX well I've heard that it would solve the last plot thread in Sengoku so I've been looking forward into it, while for X I'm more or less just want to see the finale for Rance got translated even though from what I'd heard some part of the story was rushed.

Good

At least Kimikoi should be interesting if you've been into DDLC, although seeing that it's JAST we might need to wait for a while (ie very long time) here. Same goes with Flowers Autumn here, so it's quite unfortunate that those two good VNs were in this tier because of the mere fact that JAST did license those two - I still look forward to the eventual release of those two though. As for ReLord, at least we can see more witch and the graphic wasn't too bad so I guess I might be interested with that. For Nine, at least it had the very good graphic although it's still part one out of four VNs though, so I still have doubt on that. For Lilycle, more or less the graphic was looks like an idol mobage there albeit with yuri couple instead of idol. Not quite interested with this for now, but I'll keep my eyes on this if only for the seiyuu cast alone.

Average

  • Zombie VN
  • YU-NO Remake

Not quite interested with more than three parts VN here, so I'll just pass on Zombie VN here. As for YU-NO Remake, while the new arts were admittedly could be a big draw for people who consider old YU-NO graphic to be outdated, I'm more or less still fine with the older version graphic so I'll just pass on the remake here (At least old YU-NO graphics weren't as bad as original Higurashi art), besides from what I saw no much change happen so I'm more or less just ignore this. But at least it should be good that we got Steam version for this as well.

Take Your Time JAST

  • All of JAST Blue announcement
  • Luckydog

I was using JAST as the example because of they infamy to deliver the release for a very long time. Anyway, I'm more or less just didn't want to get interested with yaoi too much so I'll just pass on this. I know though that those VNs did have the fan, but unfortunately I wasn't one of those fans. Also forgot to say that most of JAST Blue announcement was very redundant (Already have the translation), so I would more than likely just pass the announcement from JAST Blue here even if I'm a yaoi fan here (And supposed new translation).

I guess that's all that I can write in regard of AX here, and let's see whether we'll gonna have interesting announcements at Otakon later or not, especially Mangagamer one.

Edited by littleshogun
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On 8/7/2018 at 2:21 AM, TexasDice said:

Wrong, my voice-waifu is Mizuhashi Kaori. But I sure as hell won't refuse more lines spoken by the great car-chan regardless. :sachi:

I see. Well in that case then perhaps you should look forward to Sanoba instead, considering that she will voiced the short black haired big boob girl there (Togakushi Touko). I knew that Majokoi did have her, but as far as release concern I think Sanoba is nearer and almost certain at that if all goes well.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I don't like new YU-NO's art style - especially character designs. In original version they are great (and even more amazing considering technical limitations), while in the remake they've been converted to some generic moeblobs :( Or maybe that's wrong word choice - they aren't even moe :( 

New Mio looks horrible :o

42441.jpg4353.jpg

Kanna doesn't look great either...

42439.jpg4349.jpg

New Eriko is passable, but I still like old style better

42442.jpg4354.jpg

Ayumi is probably most similar to herself, but her new sprite lost so many details...

42443.jpg4347.jpg

And it's sad that they ditched original voices, as there was really great cast...

Overally - huuuge disappointment :(

 

 

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As for YU-NO remake, I would say that I'm agree that the release itself is redundant because we already have it translated. Also in regard of the art, yeah the old version is still looking good enough so I think the remake it's not necessary there, unlike Higurashi and Umineko sprite. That said, the art itself could be a big draw for the newer consumer though (ie millennial generation) because the older art was probably too old school for them, and from there hopefully they'll be able to appriciate YU-NO. Also yeah it's not really necessary to change the seiyuu there, because they could use the voice clip from the older version one. Then again, seeing that the two main staff of older YU-NO were already gone, perhaps the change was necessary because the older seiyuu were probably under the old management.

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