Steve Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 note: this post is spoiler free for iroseka only, there might be some hoshimemo spoilers as the post expects you to have played that game. also please post all iroseka spoiler replies in a spoiler tag. Well, after a beautiful week of no-lifing and 76 hours of active gametime, I finished Irotoridori no Sekai and it instantly jumped to number 1 on my VN list, surpassing Hoshizora no Memoria. But how can it happen, didn't I say that Hoshimemo is the best thing in the world? Well it is, yet Iroseka is even better I dont make any sense? Well maybe its because I didn't sleep for 35 hours and played iroseka for 24 hours straight, on miminal food and water xD But I felt like I need to write this. Well before I start, I just want to say... if they improve AstralAir over Iroseka just like they improved Iroseka over Hoshimemo, I will be the happiest person in the world. Oh also note that I have not played fandisc of either games (ill be starting iroseka FD later), so this is comparison of the base games only (so very few H scenes [1-3 per char]) Anyways here it is: I will split it into categories and also add a numerical rating (even though I hate those), more information about the comparisons will be bellow this first table. Protagonist 9.5 Hoshizora no Memoria = Irotoridori no Sekai 9.5 Main true loli character 10.0 Hoshizora no Memoria = Irotoridori no Sekai 10.0 Normal girl characters (routable) 8.5 Hoshizora no Memoria < Irotoridori no Sekai 9.5 Side characters 7.0 Hoshizora no Memoria < Irotoridori no Sekai 10.0 Side character stories 5.0 Hoshizora no Memoria < Irotoridori no Sekai 10.0 Common route: 9.0 Hoshizora no Memoria < Irotoridori no Sekai 10.0 Normal girl routes: 9.0 Hoshizora no Memoria = Irotoridori no Sekai 9.0 True loli route: 9.0 Hoshizora no Memoria < Irotoridori no Sekai 10.0 Choices: 8.5 Hoshizora no Memoria < Irotoridori no Sekai 10.0 Background music 10.0 Hoshizora no Memoria = Irotoridori no Sekai 10.0 Opening and ending songs 10.0 Hoshizora no Memoria > Irotoridori no Sekai 9.0 Voices 9.5 Hoshizora no Memoria = Irotoridori no Sekai 9.5 CGs and sprites 10.0 Hoshizora no Memoria = Irotoridori no Sekai 10.0 H scenes 9.0 Hoshizora no Memoria > Irotoridori no Sekai 8.0 explanation of ratings: Protagonist Both protagonists are easy to relate to and immerse with. It is hard to describe them without spoilers, but both are excellent with some very slight annoyance from time to time. Main true loli character Not much here to say, both Mare and Shinku basically make the game what it is, without them it would be your everyday average eroge. You will have fun with these characters for the rest of your life, if you decide to make them your wives or waifus. Normal girl characters (routable) I cannot say I disliked any of the characters in Iroseka, each girl is very unique and lovable. Just like in Hoshimemo. However in Hoshimemo there were characters with traits I dislike (Kosame, Aoi) and I couldn't fully enjoy interactions with those characters. Side characters I never before realized until I played Iroseka, but in Hoshimemo the side characters are fairly weak, it is probably the weakest point of the otherwise excellent game. You often do not expect excellent side characters in a VN, but Iroseka says otherwise. Which brings us to the next point... Side character stories Basically non existent side character stories in Hoshimemo are absolutely incomparable to the detailed character development and stories of side characters in Iroseka. Have you ever wondered about Asuka's lost sister in Hoshimemo, just to never ever hear about her again - well no need to worry in Iroseka, all side characters have a story that makes you care about them and experience emotions just like any other girl's story. And they have a very nice satisfying conclusion. Side characters overall are one of the strongest points of Iroseka. Common route: Iroseka common is arguably the best common route from any VN I've ever played. It was actually first time I cried during common route - and not just once. The separation to chapters, unlike traditional daily school life, makes it so interesting with a satisfying ending to each chapter. You feel satisfied after each chapter end and are looking forward to the next chapter. Hoshimemo has very cool and exciting common route, but there are still those "days" when nothing interesting happened. Iroseka improves on that experience by removing those parts and focusing less on the school part and more on the characters. The fact that the characters in Iroseka are slowly being introduced over the course of the first half of the common route is probably one of the factors that make the route so interesting. Definitely better than throwing all characters at you in the prologue and than not having anything interesting to introduce. Normal girl routes: For this I would say the 2 games are fairly equal. There are super exciting story routes, there are relaxing funny heart warming routes - however in both cases the other characters don't just disappear so you can enjoy the girl alone, it is often a community event (lets say playing a game) but with a focus on the chosen character. But all the other characters are not just forgotten and often play an important role in a route that is not their own. True loli route: It is hard to compare a split few hour true route in Hoshimemo (where you need to unlock the better [Mare] ending) and a 13 hour Shinku route. Even taking the first true Hoshimemo ending (yume), the emotional impact is just not quite there, things are being left open (mostly for the Fandisc) so even though the conclusion for Mare route is awesome and makes you feel awesome, the journey to get there is too short to invoke these emotions. True route in Iroseka is very long and specifically focused on the most interesting parts of the story, making you want to keep reading till the end (that's why I just stormed it in one go right after unlocking it). For me it is actually the best true route i've ever played, surpassing Little Busters true route. (but then again I didn't finish that many VNs with true routes). Choices: If Iroseka's way isn't the correct way to do choices in VN then I don't know what is. Instead of choosing to either be kind to a girl or be a scumbag and decline the girl completely (like in Hoshimemo), you choose the order in which you want to approach the girls. All of the choices make you return to the selection until you either exhaust them all or select specific number of events that can fit into the chapter part. That way you don't have to feel bad for declining some invitation or something, the route is chosen based on who you pick as your first girl and you will also get 1 or 2 special events for the chosen girl during common route, but no hours of unread content when skipping to a girl's route - once you've finished the common you've basically seen most of the events even with the other girls, allowing for a quick skipping straight to the girls route without unnecessary skip interrupts. Also there is like 4 total choice points so you can pick properly the girl you want while not being bothered by a choice every 10 mintues, worrying about messing up flags - here you just click the name of the girl you want to date xD Simple enough. Background music Nothing much to add here, if you loved Hoshimemo BGM, you will love Iroseka BGM, some of the parts made me at first very nostalgic and remember some Hoshimemo events, but later I discovered their uniqueness and assigned them to Iroseka events/characters. Opening and ending songs Hoshimemo wins here for me, the OP and EDs there are just too good. That is not saying the Iroseka ones are not good, they are still very good, but when comparing to Hoshimemo the OP lacks something. The first ED (for normal girls routes) is very nice however, probably my favorite song from the game. Voices Well what can I say here, except few annoying high pitched sentences (of children or something) it is exceptional quality. The voices really give the characters heart. CGs and sprites Nothing to say here, the art quality is just as awesome as in Hoshimemo, beautiful (foreshadowing ) backgrounds, variety of character sprites and their poses and expressions and mainly tons of event CGs. Pleasure to look at and definitely justifying full screen play. H scenes Well here I must give the edge to Hoshimemo, especially the placement of the H-scenes of the normal girl routes is sometimes not quite fitting there in Iroseka. But well there isn't much H in the first place in both games so most of these complaints are very minor stuff. Although Iroseka has one of the best blowjobs I've ever seen, and that includes comparison to high quality nukige (like oniichan sharing and the famous icecream blowjob). So all in all, this game is a MUST PLAY for anyone who liked Hoshimemo and probably even for people who like pure love stories and tearjerking nakige - there is many more tear inducing moments than in Hoshimemo. PS: pls ignore my grammar and spelling errors, ive been awake for like 35 hours now, I just wanted to talk about the game with someone while waiting for luch to finish too xD PSS: but remember, both games are awesome and in the end its all about love Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronopolis Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 At first I thought the review was super specific (haven't played either hosimemo or toridori), but you bring up some positive elements to look for in any vn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yashasupercow Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 dude iroseka translation not even finished yet.why you even bring that up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan A. Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 dude iroseka translation not even finished yet.why you even bring that up Because he read it, he loved the game and wanted to tell us why, maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yashasupercow Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 the point is make me wanna read it but.i don't even know the translation project still alive or not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nosebleed Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 It's not mandatory for a vn to be translated for you to review it is it? I'm mostly shocked Steve found something more interesting than Hoshimemo guess i need to brush up on my jap skills to read this. Nandemonai 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenkuru Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 the point is make me wanna read it but.i don't even know the translation project still alive or not You can still find ways to read it if you really want to. I doubt Steve is very proficient in Japanese either, but that didn't stop him from enjoying it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggressor Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 But how can it happen, didn't I say that Hoshimemo is the best thing in the world? You did? Was it, like, the only VN you'd read? But I remember you saying you don't know Jp, so maybe you just imagined your own version of the text and that's why the game turned out to be so good just kidding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 You did? Was it, like, the only VN you'd read? But I remember you saying you don't know Jp, so maybe you just imagined your own version of the text and that's why the game turned out to be so good just kidding Well if that's the case then I should become a VN writer since I have very good imagination Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OriginalRen Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Have you ever wondered about Asuka's lost sister in Hoshimemo, just to never ever hear about her again... Oh the irony of you saying this statement before you play Eternal Heart. Welcome to the "Mare" route my friend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDruidd Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 i want to play that game., but the translator has been dead?., well, maybe i will waiting for the full patch english., i'm not enjoying if play it with Machine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mephisto Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Well I just started playing it and I think it's a hell of lot more interesting than Hoshizora no Memoria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bolverk Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Verrryyy Niceee. (Actually didn't know this VN had loads of loli's...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Life Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Wow... everyone is praising the VN. Has it been translated yet? I liked hoshizora so I might try it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDruidd Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Wow... everyone is praising the VN. Has it been translated yet? I liked hoshizora so I might try it. Not yet., well if you will playing it, then just play with machine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted June 20, 2014 Author Share Posted June 20, 2014 dude iroseka translation not even finished yet.why you even bring that up the point is make me wanna read it but.i don't even know the translation project still alive or not Well I haven't finished a VN since January 2013, so finishing one after such long time is something special for me and I wanted to talk about it. Sadly lot of the English translated ones are just not that interesting for me or I'm only interested in one girl's route and such. But the thing is, like mentioned I am not even good at Japanese, my skill composes of knowing kana an about 100 kanji and things I picked up from voiced Japanese (from anime and previous English translated VNs with voiced girl lines - I say it all the time, skipping voices is a sin in a VN, listen to them and you will learn stuff) - phrases, grammar, lot of words, sentence structure and such. I never learned from any of the official materials and guides where you learn the "proper" Japanese, all I have is from anime and VNs and that's exactly why I can only use it for those things. And with the current option of VNR where you can have furigana above kanji, one click definitions, customizable machine TL with terms and names to help quickly get word forms (machine alone is terrible, it makes no sense lot of the time and you wouldn't get much, but chances are that if there is some conjugation form of a verb you don't know, the machine does actually have that word correctly and as such is a very useful tool for beginner JP readers such as myself - but more importantly it quickly adds the definitions of the kanjis) VNR basically skips the hardest part of reading VNs and that is knowing kanji - you don't need to, you will for sure pickup lot of them during the read (especially names of the characters, which will be useless for another VNs xD) and that will help you to get independent in the future and not rely on VNR, but as it is the need to know thousands of kanji is just gone, you just need to know the words from anime or previous VNs if you listened to the lines and will be fine. And not to mention that VNR has customizable fonts, colors, transparency and all that stuff so it actually looks great in fullscreen. I have a 5:4 display and the game is 16:10 aspect ratio which means i have a black bar on the bottom - i just plonked the VNR there and it looked great. So yeah, as I said machine TL alone sucks, I tried that with some games a long time ago and it just wasn't possible for me. But it is not stopping you from using it as a great tool to help you get the meaning, while also having furigana and dictionary assistance within the line (one click on the word in VNR). And I only have about 2.5 years of anime and VN experience, started late 2011 with anime and early 2012 with VNs, so if you've been watching anime your whole life or something (and not just reading subtitles but actually focusing on what the characters are saying), you should be able to read VNs like this. Give it a shot, I actually tried reading several other VNs like this but always dropped after 1-5 hours because they just weren't that interesting to me, but the moment I started Iroseka I knew its gonna be my new FAVORITE, just from the music, first CG and the overall feel of the game... and I wasn't wrong Verrryyy Niceee. (Acutally didn't know this VN had loads of loli's... Not complaning hehe) The golden ratio is a loli as the true route, that just makes me want to play the game so much and even go through the other routes, which then end up being very awesome even though the characters have big boobs. I must say that its just genius decision by Favorite - they know lolicons want the loli only, but if they lock it, lolicons will realize that it is locked for a reason (and srsly don't skip routes in favorite games) and play the other routes to unlock it, while being able to enjoy them, trying their best to unlock the desired loli. And for non-lolicons, they want those other girls and they don't have to unlock anything to get them, which makes it smooth experience - and once they finish those, they just have the loli left, which might not be their favorite character type, but they feel like finishing the game since they already did most of the other stuff, not to mention the ultimate conclusion of the game is within the route too and they have a need to finish it. So yeah, I like all-loli VNs for the H-scene faps, but for games I want to 100% finish its practically impossible to have more than 1 or 2 loli characters that are as Awesome as favorite makes their characters - that is without using the stereotypical loli characters that are not really interesting outside of H-scenes anyways. I need to have something to look forward in a game, if I can finish the route I want the most as the first route, I will most likely not finish the game (and that has been the case for me in the past 1.5 years, play one route, mark the game as "finished for me"). So yeah, Favorite found the ideal combination of the girls At least for me. Truly the best VN company Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 So we found the locations from the game on google street with Luch today. Google street position: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.074278,140.085165,3a,80.9y,205.06h,92.95t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sGsOt2o_VX_xygF_zQUU_Yg!2e0 I must say the 2D COLORFUL version is much better than the 3d grey one xD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ayana Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 I really really really like this comprehensive review/comparison you done here on IroSekai, Steve. I'm currently re-reading Hoshimemo because I seriously didn't even know about Eternal Heart being an important extension to the actual story. If that's the case, I have to then refresh my memory of the first entry before moving on to Eternal Heart right away. Since this very post made me look into IroSekai (which seems to have some relatively thought-provoking elements in it, my cup of tea) and its fandisk as well... umm, guess now I know what to read next after Eternal Heart. ^^ Hoshimemo was a great emotional and entertaining experience back then so I'm looking forward to reading IroSekai for the same plus more. Although, moe is a guilty pleasure of mine, I must resist... Dx Oh and I absolutely love it when VNs use real-life settings like that, it's quite the ideal of mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clephas Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Irosekai really is one of those games you can't help but enjoy. As for game comments on untranslated VNs... I do that every month in my VN of the Month thread, so I don't see a problem with him doing this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted July 4, 2014 Author Share Posted July 4, 2014 I really really really like this comprehensive review/comparison you done here on IroSekai, Steve. I'm currently re-reading Hoshimemo because I seriously didn't even know about Eternal Heart being an important extension to the actual story. If that's the case, I have to then refresh my memory of the first entry before moving on to Eternal Heart right away. Since this very post made me look into IroSekai (which seems to have some relatively thought-provoking elements in it, my cup of tea) and its fandisk as well... umm, guess now I know what to read next after Eternal Heart. ^^ Hoshimemo was a great emotional and entertaining experience back then so I'm looking forward to reading IroSekai for the same plus more. Although, moe is a guilty pleasure of mine, I must resist... Dx Oh and I absolutely love it when VNs use real-life settings like that, it's quite the ideal of mine. Definitely a good choice, the "fandisk" is even better, not sure if can even be called fandisk since its just full sequel xD Irosekai really is one of those games you can't help but enjoy. As for game comments on untranslated VNs... I do that every month in my VN of the Month thread, so I don't see a problem with him doing this. Actually if anything, making the untranslated VNs more popular will raise the interest in the game and increase the possibility of a new translation project. When I was praising the game all over TS, Mephisto picked it up and for fun translated some of the philosophical parts so that can already help any future projects. That's exactly how Key projects always get translated, lot of fans praise the games and as such they get noticed by more and more people and some of them are willing to translate. More people know about it, better chance one of them will want to translate it. So talking positively about untranslated game is WIN for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddybaire Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 I've been wanting to play this game for a while because it was by Favorite but I didn't know there were tools for reading VNs without a translation. Do these tools have an official website or something? And Steve, may I ask where you got the game, if you don't mind me asking? I've been looking for it but nothing has really shown up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted July 10, 2014 Author Share Posted July 10, 2014 I've been wanting to play this game for a while because it was by Favorite but I didn't know there were tools for reading VNs without a translation. Do these tools have an official website or something? And Steve, may I ask where you got the game, if you don't mind me asking? I've been looking for it but nothing has really shown up. you can download VNR from here: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B3YXxE6u-4bzSURRZGJMSjFyc1k&export=download check the tutorial and other pages on the VNR wiki to understand how to setup the program for maximum comfort: http://annot.me/wiki/en/VNR/Tutorial You can hop on the teamspeak and if I have time I can help you: https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/598-teamspeak-come-chat-with-us-about-lolis-and-visual-novels/ And as for the games, I made this topic with download links to all you need: https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/5444-irotoridori-no-sekai-hikari/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teddybaire Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Thanks a lot! This will give me something to do over the summer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khalan Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 So I just finished this game and loved it; the characters are amazing (I don't see how anyone can dislike Shinku). But found this review a bit to positive as this game has some weak points; especially without the fandisk. Here are some of my thoughts (for the rest of my thought's, just read the OP's review as this game is amazing - though I must say I usually wear pink glasses when looking at this game) Character Routes:The problem with the heroine routes is that it feels like I got only half of their routes. I suppose IroHika will continue their stories, in which case it would make sense from business perspective...but that still wouldn't make it good. I liked how in Tsukasa's route all characters were involved and how Kyou developed in her route; however both routes were to short; and I certainly wasn't satisfied with Kyou's. Only one character got a satisfying end, but there still are many other things unresolved in her route. Side Characters:I agree, the side characters are amazing. To the extent that I really want to see more see more about them. Imagine Suzu having her own route; Yuuma x Suzu would have been a very interesting relationship (I'm not a fan of shipping; but I would have definitely shipped them if Yuuma didn't have Shinku already). Also, I would really like to see how Ren develops into an adult woman. I think she would be an amazing character as adolescent/adult and she already has a backstory then.However, like the main heroines, I didn't think their stories had a satisfying conclusion. Mainly, it felt most side characters were nothing more than sacrifices to advance the main heroines' stories; and the writer forgot them after we got their backstories, Voices:I completely disagree here. I found the voice acting to be the weakest part of the game and certainly not as good as HoshiMemo (maybe because I loved Mare's voice so much; or because I paid not much attention to the voices because I was reading the translation). Most of the voice actors do a fine job, and their voices fit the characters but there are also several screwups; so I think the sound director is just bad or lazy. Usami Mimoe did the worst performance; though I suppose she isn't professional since she only did 2 minor roles in Favorite games; some of her "onii-chan"s are so damn cringeworthy. Also Kadowaki Mai, usually I love her voice but I was not really impressed by her performance as Kyou; she did Mare a lot better. Also she did one huge screwup in Kyou's route; one line she is crying and the next next line she says as if nothing has happened which kinda killed the impact of the moment for me. So now I'm going to put up my pink glasses again and read the fandisc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yuuko Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 So now I'm going to put up my pink glasses again and read the fandisc Hikari is a sequel imo and Akaseka is more of an fandisc even though it also still continues the story and brings it to an end.Also there's no way that they could have done the whole routes in Sekai. No one's budget can take that xD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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