Visual Novel Cafe

[Animaksiat]

Hasn't really something to do with the originally topic here, but I just wanted to let you know if someone of you is registered at MangaGamer's website that you should change you password, since the site was hacked yesterday

got nothing to do with me... hehehe

 

[pingtoryan]

Nor me.

...and they came...

 

[kactaplb]

dead thread :/ since i havent been able to play at all, you guys should post what you are playing so i can follow along too

 

[Animaksiat]

dead thread :/ since i havent been able to play at all, you guys should post what you are playing so i can follow along too

what am i playing right now... haven't even started to download new waves yet... was planning on downloading atelier kaguya's...
still need to clean off my hard disc...

 

[setuna1279]

Hmph, if you guys are out of topics, I will create one. What do you guys think about researchs on eroges and visual novel? I tried to find any journal or article which seriously discusses this area in an unbiased tone but the result turned to nothing. Luckily, I was able to find one book talking on this topic.

Anime and the Visual Novel: Narrative Structure, Design and Play at the Crossroads of Animation and Computer Games

Will try to read this one later. This book talks about a little bit of history of eroges. Hope this will give you guys some topics to discuss.

 

[pingtoryan]

Can't fully read it...

...added PRIMALxHEARTS to the list...low priority though. Still got Hanikami's one route plus another stories, the small fandisk, and the big fandisk with all the after stories plus another stories...confused now?

 

[kactaplb]

Which ak division is your favorite [MENTION=7737]Animaksiat[/MENTION] ;

Not sure what there is to discuss other than the history and phenomena. Eroge storytelling isn't that unique to warrant such research. One thing I do find amazing however is how large the industry has become, with each month sometimes seeing dozens of releases. With how flooded the market has become, it will be a little worrying to see how, and if, the industry manages to adapt.


Primal heart? Marmelade right? How is it? I still have deep mistrust after darjeeling tea game....

 

[Mahou]

Which ak division is your favorite [MENTION=7737]Animaksiat[/MENTION] ;

Not sure what there is to discuss other than the history and phenomena. Eroge storytelling isn't that unique to warrant such research. One thing I do find amazing however is how large the industry has become, with each month sometimes seeing dozens of releases. With how flooded the market has become, it will be a little worrying to see how, and if, the industry manages to adapt.


Primal heart? Marmelade right? How is it? I still have deep mistrust after darjeeling tea game....

Primal Hearts seems to be alright. The heroines are definitely cute and the common route was *for me* enjoyable. The MC seems to be a bit strangely designed, though. On one hand kind of an allrounder with a sharp-ish logical mind and physically strong, yet not really (at least he didn't show much of a strenght-feat other than fast at running/sprinting). In contrast to it, he tries to hit on the girls in order to get a girlfriend for a reason that while not extraordinary is different than the usual "I wanna have a gf to do rabu-rabu/icha-icha with!!!" *lol*.

 

[Animaksiat]

[MENTION=10115]kactaplb[/MENTION] i like team heartbeat the best... other than that, it's a so-so... well... chocochips drawing is on a different level though... im sure [MENTION=77]Terumi[/MENTION] would agree with me too

eroge storytelling, eh? ever since LN fever rises up... eroge will never be same as they were before... yes indeed, there still many good story... but for me... it's almost the same old stories.... not much for mystery, suspenses, action, and fantasy anymore...

 

[Mahou]

So I wanted to read Parasol's latest title because from its description on getchu it sounded like a nice, *normal*, slice of life setting. Well, during the common route I was confronted with the first slight drama moments saying "Hi Mahou, sorry to scatter your illusions, but we are here *tehee~*" So Mahou does what he can and searches for a jp. review (and checked the full savegame's CG). Long story short: Unless I'm interpreting too much into the review, Hare Nocchi's drama will be a "trainwreck" for at least two routes. Uninstalled -> No thank you! Didn't see anything
Call me "pathetic", but too heavy drama VNs will probably stay on my no-go list with maybe rare, rare exceptions. They'll be nagging too long on my mind and make me feel gloomy.

 

[pingtoryan]

Parasol's previous installment (Yumekoi) is rather drama-heavy despite its magical girl outlook, as well.

............speaking of that, with Haruno out of the way, will Parasol ever fill that three empty extra scenarios in Yumekoi now...it's been almost, if not a full year now.

 

[Terumi]

[MENTION=10115]kactaplb[/MENTION]; how could you leave me out of any AK mention or topics. AK was my favorite game maker when I started.

Same here for AK, I love Team Heartbeat and BerkshireYorkshire. Back when I first started, there were only 4 teams in AK, the 2 previously named, HonkyTonk Pumpkin and DREIZHEN. The latter was pretty much dead with minimal works. HonkyTonk Pumpkin filled for the usual greatness of onee-san nukiges, with absolute juice everywhere around the corner in their games. Each girl easily had up to 10 plus scenes not counting harem scenes.

While Kaguya held its reputation as one of the best nukige producers, BerkshireYorkshire held its own fort at its time all thanks to chocochip-sensei and her art. Her character design and art was the top drawing point back in the years when Kaguya was still cashing in big on their titles (Prima Stella, Sara Sara Sasara and the earlier imouto/ane/onee series). Along with M&M from Heartbeat, they were like the 2 reasons why everyone should give a damn and play their titles.

chocochip sensei did eventually leave AK for her own reasons, leaving M&M as the sole anchor artist in AK and Heartbeat eventually rose to overtake AK as its flagship team. Their games appear of nukige-esque materials (hot girls in hot scenes and multiply it by many many times), Heartbeat games never fail to impress on story side. Many of its titles depict mysteries and were intensive and intriguing to continue reading, the more reason to follow when the heroines are all so lovely and beautiful. While BerkshireYorkshire gave players a good love story with pleasantly gorgeous ladies, Heartbeat gave fans something much more than an average nukige can offer, and it obviously pleases hard nukige-mers like me.

Heartbeat eventually left AK, with M&M and staff moving on to create their own brand, now the known Astronauts, in which he spearheads the Sirius team. The 2 Demonion titles have been nothing but enjoyment and the art has definitely improved. chocochip-sensei herself returned to AK in a new team in Bare & Bunny, and of course her titles are still an easy shoo-in to play at any time for me. There's really no comparing of art because I really love both artists and their works so much.
[MENTION=7737]Animaksiat[/MENTION]; do correct me if i left out anything. :D

 

[kactaplb]

[MENTION=77]Terumi[/MENTION] ; g-gomen! i will make sure to mention you from now on heh. you're so knowledgeable, thanks for the history lesson ww. as for me, nothing could beat team berkshireyorkshire. i could always expect them to deliver a pleasantly fun romcom with top tier art. from what you said,it seems i need to try out an astronauts game then.

although honestly speaking, i'm not a fan of nukige. i need a little something more in-depth, while still being light hearted overall. i was extremely disappointed with the last cube game, especially since their natsu no ame game still ranks among my favorites. i don't have high hopes for their next coming title either :/

 

[Mahou]

The last cube (not your diary+) was really on the average side. I don't care much about the story as long as the character interaction is fun (Loverable, Fureraba as samples of really fun VNs without any real story to it), but Kurano-kunchi no Futago Jijou's MC was sadly the usual deal of dense beyond belief (not that I would be any better, I think *lol*). And this trait *can* be a rather large aspect of how enjoyable is a VN when, e.g, the dokan level is rubbed in the readers face at every opportunity.

An even worse offender was Imouto no Katachi's MC. That guy is even in the early common route beyond useless. Maybe the only game where the MC made me drop the VN without regret as early as the (early) common route

Btw, what the heck is up with the latest escude title? I mean, based on Micchi's surmmary I knew to throw any possible expectations other than it being close to a nukige far, far away, but the common route left me /facepalming and head-shaking until I closed the game commentlessly.

 

[pingtoryan]

Kurafuta's all about twincest to me...and I happen to like that particular thing so it's okay to me.

...I think, there was a certain VN that I never have the motivation to get back to (it had been a full year now) because of its BGMs do not loop properly...

 

[Mahou]

Parasol's previous installment (Yumekoi) is rather drama-heavy despite its magical girl outlook, as well.

............speaking of that, with Haruno out of the way, will Parasol ever fill that three empty extra scenarios in Yumekoi now...it's been almost, if not a full year now.

Well, I was a bit aware of parasol's works as I also played Delivara (which was a strange one from what I remember). Maybe I expected too much after the positive outcome of tonework's last title (for me, at least).

Kurafuta's all about twincest to me...and I happen to like that particular thing so it's okay to me.

...I think, there was a certain VN that I never have the motivation to get back to (it had been a full year now) because of its BGMs do not loop properly...

I don't mind (t)wincest either, just the MC annoyed me, but that's just me being overly picky despite knowing the general "trend".

Returning a bit to Primal Hearts: I finished Kana's route. Not too bad. Their relationship was mostly conveyed by action rather than the actual words for story reasons partly. Fortunately, no big drama and I liked her personality.
Yuzuki's completed as well: A bit more structure may have been desirable as the last bits of her story was h-scene after h-scene. Otherwise, the most obvious romance choice in terms of what's been visible :D.
Sera's route up to confession: <3. Predictable once you entered her route, yet that lingering feeling that her oujo-sama status will return for a short drama won't leave me. At least, in regards to her family relation.

 

[pingtoryan]

Finished Honeycoming's main stories and on the 41st play I finished two another stories...two more to go and then to RoyalSweet...that took me a whole month and a bit more...

...I feel like a snail...

 

[Terumi]

Finished Honeycoming's main stories and on the 41st play I finished two another stories...two more to go and then to RoyalSweet...that took me a whole month and a bit more...

...I feel like a snail...

Trust me, you havent reach snail yet. I am the living definition of snail.
Too many distractions too much procrastination too much pain.

 

[Mahou]

Ah, Honeycoming *nostalgy* I only played it a few years ago. It was pretty average and had a dragged-out drama/uneasiness period in the childhood friend route. But, otherwise quite enjoyable given that hooksofts other titles tend to be rather boring (or the MCs at least). The non-japanese girl whose name I forgot also got her own mini-fandisk :D.

I just finished Men at Work 4. Overall a pretty enjoyable ride. Most routes were quite nice, even though the confession in Rina's route was rather abrupt. Events leading to the final boss were nearly identical to Reina's route, but that's somehow understandable as they are based on the same premisse.
Catherine's route was somehow disappointing. The confession happened out of nowhere, the adventure part while being tied to her story's route felt rather disjointed as it only involved Carl and the ending had hardly anything to do with Catherin despite her tragic fate. Well, the only ending connection was the Cyphon family, but it left you scratching your head.
The ultimate boss was brutal and no comparison to the other battles. 3/4 of HP drained by his attacks and random petrify ailments >_<.

 

[pingtoryan]

Leave the childhood friends for last often seems to be a good advice when playing Hooksoft games...and I am glad I did that for Honeycoming (also Sakura Bitmap and SuGirly Wish)...obviously, not because they are the best.

Starting @Honeycoming RoyalSweet today. I went straight for the sub-characters' section (it's in a format no different from 'My Room' in two later games)...Ichigo's section is very funny and I enjoyed it thoroughly. But 9+4 sections for each main heroine...will take quite some time...

No movements so I'll just edit this in:

http://august-soft.com/hatou/index.html

I don't feel so good...

 

[Eroge_Dude]

Currently finishing up Harukoi Otome , almost done with it, just finished Yuika's route (made me really angry and depressed that route....) and now on the last route, Sonya's, so far its been a really happy story but I know drama is gonna get thrown in soon.

 

[Mahou]

Currently finishing up Harukoi Otome , almost done with it, just finished Yuika's route (made me really angry and depressed that route....) and now on the last route, Sonya's, so far its been a really happy story but I know drama is gonna get thrown in soon.

My condolence for going through that sh!tty route of Yuika. Even worse, her routes was next to the "sister" route one of the most important ones in regards to the MC's background. And the "sisters" route wasn't really better in terms of dragged-out, facepalming drama.
Sonya's route was actually one of my favorite ones if not my favorite one overall.

 

[Eroge_Dude]

My condolence for going through that sh!tty route of Yuika. Even worse, her routes was next to the "sister" route one of the most important ones in regards to the MC's background. And the "sisters" route wasn't really better in terms of dragged-out, facepalming drama.
Sonya's route was actually one of my favorite ones if not my favorite one overall.

I agree Mahou, I have a feeling Sonya and Riru's routes are going to be my favorites , Wish I saved Riru's route for last

 

[pingtoryan]

You don't save the best for last when it comes to VNs...because you don't know what lies ahead, especially when you are so stubborn as to refuse ta look at reviews...

 

[Eroge_Dude]

You don't save the best for last when it comes to VNs...because you don't know what lies ahead, especially when you are so stubborn as to refuse ta look at reviews...

I try to stay away from reviews and such with RPGs and VNs, I HATE to get anything spoiled for me..........

On another note do any of you guys cry when playing a visual novel?

I hope I'm not the only one that does..........