Visual Novel Cafe
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- Nov 5, 2010
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- Nov 5, 2010
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I'm still quite fond of Haruoto Alice * Gram despite its flaws, so I made some quick work of Alia's Carnival to learn more about some of Harugura's unanswered questions.
Now time to start Hatsukoi Sankaime.
Alia's Carnival is a full-fledged chuunige, with fighting characters throwing chuuni superpowers and stuff at one another, and horridly bad chuuni naming sense. The story revolves around Asuha, who is the granddaughter of the school headmaster, but is somewhat a problem child. She wields a destructive arcane power of fire. Asuha's goal is to beat the crap out of and defeat other clubs in team battles supervised by the school in order to become Alia, the most honorable title in the school. And there is Ren, the protagonist, a transfer student whose power catches Asuha's attention. It sounds like I've heard this somewhere before already, but no matter.
The common route mainly explains about arcane powers and demonstrates how arcane battles work. We also see what Asuha is capable of. She can easily decimate a whole battalion of students with her full power but it's very difficult to control, and Ren makes an ideal partner because of his ability to change and control other people's powers. There's not much but chuuni stuff. The battle scenes aren't that impressive. Battle CGs are very lacking and there are only a bunch of text to describe it for you.
Asuha becoming Alia is the main trunk of the story, with other routes branch off at different points. The route structure after the common route is similar to August's Senmomo's, but those routes themselves are nowhere near as crappy though. Still, compared to the conclusion in Asuha's route, they clearly feel more like filler routes. Except for maybe Tsukuyomi's route, those other routes don't have much to do with the main plot.
My verdict: This game is mediocre as a chuunige and fails as a charage. I don't mind chuuni stuff but apart from that there's not much that stands out. The characters lack originality and are bland and derivative. Romance just feels the same for all routes. Filler heroines are only there for the sake of fulfilling the writing quota; they'd be better off having only Asuha and Tsukuyomi instead. Apart from that there are technical issues too, like broken character sprites, typos, and most of all, voice actor calling other character by a wrong name. Not sure if this game was even tested before release. Even though Harugura borrowed a lot of ideas from Alia, at least it has an interesting theme, interesting cast of characters, and most definitely not bugged. I'm kinda glad I picked up Harugura before Alia.
The common route mainly explains about arcane powers and demonstrates how arcane battles work. We also see what Asuha is capable of. She can easily decimate a whole battalion of students with her full power but it's very difficult to control, and Ren makes an ideal partner because of his ability to change and control other people's powers. There's not much but chuuni stuff. The battle scenes aren't that impressive. Battle CGs are very lacking and there are only a bunch of text to describe it for you.
Asuha becoming Alia is the main trunk of the story, with other routes branch off at different points. The route structure after the common route is similar to August's Senmomo's, but those routes themselves are nowhere near as crappy though. Still, compared to the conclusion in Asuha's route, they clearly feel more like filler routes. Except for maybe Tsukuyomi's route, those other routes don't have much to do with the main plot.
Sort by route order: Shiina > Yumi > Karin > Tsukuyomi > Asuha
1. Shiina:
Utamaru and the ever-blooming sakura that grants wishes made a return from Da Capo. What a ripoff. Anyway, This is the first route that branches off the main Alia story. Shiina is the kind and airhead osananajimi whose route focuses on the fulfulling of the childhood promise between her and Ren under the said sakura tree. Even for someone who has a soft spot for osananajimi like me, this route sounds boring already. A flat and uneventful route overall with nothing remotely notable.
2. Yumi:
The next heroine is Yumi, the playful and mischievous member of the club. Her route focuses on mysterious occurences that happen around the city. It has an ominous vibe and the feel that death is a possibility, and is probably my favorite route in the game. But story development is quite a letdown. The drama in this route and how Yumi is willing to risk her life are caused by only a meer sentimental reason, which isn't very convincing or reasonable. Sounds like the writer was trying to force the story to that certain direction but too lazy to come up with a good story.
3. Karin:
Then we have Karin, the bashful brocon imouto. She's a top metal carver who's well-known throughout the school. This route deals with the problem that comes after Karin and Ren starts their relationship, but it's not some drama about love between full siblings or something like that. It's about a supernatural phenomenon caused by their relationship which starts to affect Karin's health. This is another one of the worse and more boring routes where we have the sudden deus ex machina solution and "it's all but a dream" climax. And even with all the contrived plot they still failed to make the ending satisfying. It feels more like a "less bad" ending instead of a happy ending. Not sure why they decided to pull this as it only serves to leave a bitter aftertaste and not much of a good impression to the readers.
4. Tsukuyomi:
After all the filler routes are out of the way, the last choice of the game determines whether you go to Tsukuyomi's route or Asuha's route. Tsukuyomi is the no-nonsense, cool and charismatic leader of the discipline committee who has a complicated relationship with Asuha. Her story reveals the truth behind a certain past incident which caused her and Asuha to part ways. Tsukuyomi is easily my favorite heroine but unfortunately her route suffers greatly from lazy writing. In this route, Tsukuyomi asked Ren to join the discipline committee so that they can learn more about his mysterious power. Tsukuyomi is Asuha's rival for Alia, and Ren has been Asuha's partner all this time. It's supposed to be a difficult decision but the move happens so fast as if neither he nor Asuha give a damn about it. Another example is the weak end fight. We almost don't see any action from Tsukuyomi and it abruptly ends halfway, leaving it to the reader to imagine what happened during the credit roll.
Now all the routes I've mentioned up to this point share a few problems in common. During the common route, we have intense Alia battles with sparks flying around and dead bodies littered everywhere, but once you enter an individual route, it abruptly becomes all peace and quiet. The pace drops to an absolute crawl during the stage of romance progression. The plot is suddenly frozen and the romance drags on and on until after the third ero scene do we finally see some development again. (Luckily the ero scenes in length are not that long and just right.) Another issue is that girls other than the heroine of that route barely appears if at all, being assigned to roles even smaller than other subchars. Well, at least that's an issue for many other games as well.
5. Asuha:
And lastly we have Asuha, the main heroine. This route expands upon the main plot most thoroughly. It sees Asuha's endeavor to become Alia to the end and brings the dispute between her and Tsukuyomi to a conclusion. It also reveals the main antagonist who plans to take advantage of Alia battles for their own gain. This route also suffers from bad pacing, but in a completely different sense. Because they crammed everything relevant to the main plot here, there's very little room for romance. The romance will come at you so swiftly that you won't immediately realize what's going on until it already happens. Apart from that, the pace is kinda okay, though there is so much story to tell it might feel a bit dragging. But what stupefied me the most is the ending that destroys everything you've been working for and makes you feel that all the hours spent on this game are all for naught.
1. Shiina:
Utamaru and the ever-blooming sakura that grants wishes made a return from Da Capo. What a ripoff. Anyway, This is the first route that branches off the main Alia story. Shiina is the kind and airhead osananajimi whose route focuses on the fulfulling of the childhood promise between her and Ren under the said sakura tree. Even for someone who has a soft spot for osananajimi like me, this route sounds boring already. A flat and uneventful route overall with nothing remotely notable.
2. Yumi:
The next heroine is Yumi, the playful and mischievous member of the club. Her route focuses on mysterious occurences that happen around the city. It has an ominous vibe and the feel that death is a possibility, and is probably my favorite route in the game. But story development is quite a letdown. The drama in this route and how Yumi is willing to risk her life are caused by only a meer sentimental reason, which isn't very convincing or reasonable. Sounds like the writer was trying to force the story to that certain direction but too lazy to come up with a good story.
3. Karin:
Then we have Karin, the bashful brocon imouto. She's a top metal carver who's well-known throughout the school. This route deals with the problem that comes after Karin and Ren starts their relationship, but it's not some drama about love between full siblings or something like that. It's about a supernatural phenomenon caused by their relationship which starts to affect Karin's health. This is another one of the worse and more boring routes where we have the sudden deus ex machina solution and "it's all but a dream" climax. And even with all the contrived plot they still failed to make the ending satisfying. It feels more like a "less bad" ending instead of a happy ending. Not sure why they decided to pull this as it only serves to leave a bitter aftertaste and not much of a good impression to the readers.
4. Tsukuyomi:
After all the filler routes are out of the way, the last choice of the game determines whether you go to Tsukuyomi's route or Asuha's route. Tsukuyomi is the no-nonsense, cool and charismatic leader of the discipline committee who has a complicated relationship with Asuha. Her story reveals the truth behind a certain past incident which caused her and Asuha to part ways. Tsukuyomi is easily my favorite heroine but unfortunately her route suffers greatly from lazy writing. In this route, Tsukuyomi asked Ren to join the discipline committee so that they can learn more about his mysterious power. Tsukuyomi is Asuha's rival for Alia, and Ren has been Asuha's partner all this time. It's supposed to be a difficult decision but the move happens so fast as if neither he nor Asuha give a damn about it. Another example is the weak end fight. We almost don't see any action from Tsukuyomi and it abruptly ends halfway, leaving it to the reader to imagine what happened during the credit roll.
Now all the routes I've mentioned up to this point share a few problems in common. During the common route, we have intense Alia battles with sparks flying around and dead bodies littered everywhere, but once you enter an individual route, it abruptly becomes all peace and quiet. The pace drops to an absolute crawl during the stage of romance progression. The plot is suddenly frozen and the romance drags on and on until after the third ero scene do we finally see some development again. (Luckily the ero scenes in length are not that long and just right.) Another issue is that girls other than the heroine of that route barely appears if at all, being assigned to roles even smaller than other subchars. Well, at least that's an issue for many other games as well.
5. Asuha:
And lastly we have Asuha, the main heroine. This route expands upon the main plot most thoroughly. It sees Asuha's endeavor to become Alia to the end and brings the dispute between her and Tsukuyomi to a conclusion. It also reveals the main antagonist who plans to take advantage of Alia battles for their own gain. This route also suffers from bad pacing, but in a completely different sense. Because they crammed everything relevant to the main plot here, there's very little room for romance. The romance will come at you so swiftly that you won't immediately realize what's going on until it already happens. Apart from that, the pace is kinda okay, though there is so much story to tell it might feel a bit dragging. But what stupefied me the most is the ending that destroys everything you've been working for and makes you feel that all the hours spent on this game are all for naught.
My verdict: This game is mediocre as a chuunige and fails as a charage. I don't mind chuuni stuff but apart from that there's not much that stands out. The characters lack originality and are bland and derivative. Romance just feels the same for all routes. Filler heroines are only there for the sake of fulfilling the writing quota; they'd be better off having only Asuha and Tsukuyomi instead. Apart from that there are technical issues too, like broken character sprites, typos, and most of all, voice actor calling other character by a wrong name. Not sure if this game was even tested before release. Even though Harugura borrowed a lot of ideas from Alia, at least it has an interesting theme, interesting cast of characters, and most definitely not bugged. I'm kinda glad I picked up Harugura before Alia.
Now time to start Hatsukoi Sankaime.
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[MENTION=87]Frankincense[/MENTION];
Did you get to decide what is going to be used in that playthrough of yours?
Other things keep me away from VNs at the moment...
Did you get to decide what is going to be used in that playthrough of yours?
Other things keep me away from VNs at the moment...
- Nov 5, 2010
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One is DC2 Plus Communication, and one or two more. I want some easy and relatively well-known school life but still can’t think of any. Maybe one of Hooksoft games, but they seem to be full of hard casual Japanese. =\
Casual Japanese...isn't that pretty much everywhere when it comes to VN? Japanese for eroge in general's gonna need to overcome that hurdle, I think.
...not that Hooksoft stuff could be considered well-known...SE Asia might just get some of them Vita releases via PSN if that's the case...
- Nov 5, 2010
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Well, I just think that generic settings like school life is more easy to understand, but games that are more driven by comedy will have harder casual Japanese, puns, contemporary jokes and stuff. For me, D.C. at least is mainly driven by story and doesn't rely too much on comedy, which is already easy to understand anyway compared to some other school life (though I haven't really looked at them yet).
Oh, yeah. Let's just forget I said that well-known part. I think what I'm looking for is just something with "pure love" and "school life" tags without complicated plot, preferably with a cover that clearly represents that image and good enough artwork to make the reader want to try picking it up.
Oh, yeah. Let's just forget I said that well-known part. I think what I'm looking for is just something with "pure love" and "school life" tags without complicated plot, preferably with a cover that clearly represents that image and good enough artwork to make the reader want to try picking it up.
- Apr 28, 2013
- 363
- 58
Pure Love, school life and no complicated stuff? Amakano duology, be prepared for the sugary sweetness, though! The xCation series, Hoshiori and Gin'Iro Haruka from tone work as the post-school chapters round things up quite nicely imho. Smee's VN if you haven't played them all. Although Hoshiori might not be super casual with the few architecture, astronomy and sea life/marine creatures topics thrown in here and there. Hooksoft's VNs are surely also within the tags, but as was mentiond throughout the thread, they are rather hit-or-miss in terms of being boring and partly with a really generic protagonist.
SMEE's stuff is laden with shimoneta (i.e. heavily driven by jokes), I doubt that it's good for learners.
As for Hooksoft...avoid the heavier ones like StrawberryNauts or PriministAr, I recall them both going jargonic for quite a bit. Hell, MeltyMoment's prolly the best bet amongst the pick...but you're the expert.
As for Hooksoft...avoid the heavier ones like StrawberryNauts or PriministAr, I recall them both going jargonic for quite a bit. Hell, MeltyMoment's prolly the best bet amongst the pick...but you're the expert.
- Nov 5, 2010
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[MENTION=50434]Mahou[/MENTION]; Just asking for reference. What's your first eroge?
EDIT: [MENTION=21095]pingtoryan[/MENTION]; oh you too lol.
EDIT: [MENTION=21095]pingtoryan[/MENTION]; oh you too lol.
[MENTION=87]Frankincense[/MENTION];
Before I could even comprehend Japanese, ToHeart 2 (XRATED). When I could barely comprehend Japanese, ToHeart 1. Certainly not a beginner's choice...although I had been playing SRW OGS around that same time...of course couldn't understand much but know my way around.
Can't remember the first game that I could read fluidly...if I have to name one, MeltyMoment back in '14 would be it. I even made my own notes in my own search of the five ending variations of each heroine then by combing the splits for mentions of the relevant stuff (after looking at the dug-out CGs). That's an VN with semblance of replay value...
Before I could even comprehend Japanese, ToHeart 2 (XRATED). When I could barely comprehend Japanese, ToHeart 1. Certainly not a beginner's choice...although I had been playing SRW OGS around that same time...of course couldn't understand much but know my way around.
Can't remember the first game that I could read fluidly...if I have to name one, MeltyMoment back in '14 would be it. I even made my own notes in my own search of the five ending variations of each heroine then by combing the splits for mentions of the relevant stuff (after looking at the dug-out CGs). That's an VN with semblance of replay value...
- Nov 5, 2010
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Actually MeltyMoment isn't a bad choice. At least Takayaki should be well-known among ero manga reader. Noted.
- Apr 28, 2013
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My first VN in general: Old titles like The Sagara Family, Crescendo, etc. Back then I didn't know the difference between the genres or was aware of the term Visual Novel *lol*. My "official" VN addiction started probably with Da Capo or Shuffle. My first VN in Japanese? Phew, that's a good question... Maybe Fortune Arterial? I'm not 100% sure but it was one of the first I've played in JP. Not the best choice for a first VN as I only got the very, very rough gist of it. To be be fair, I've never learnt JP in an active, structured way, so I've never got 100% of the story. But for my lazy style it was just fine.
About MeltyMoments: I thought the MC was rather goofy/childish at times, but the heroines route were lovely enough from what I remember.
About SMEE: I remember at least Loverable being recommended as a (rather) beginner friendly VN in terms of JP knowledge. There's even a tool to extract the script files floating around in the net :D The last three or so entries? Yeah, they are heavier on the pervy jokes.
About MeltyMoments: I thought the MC was rather goofy/childish at times, but the heroines route were lovely enough from what I remember.
About SMEE: I remember at least Loverable being recommended as a (rather) beginner friendly VN in terms of JP knowledge. There's even a tool to extract the script files floating around in the net :D The last three or so entries? Yeah, they are heavier on the pervy jokes.
- Nov 5, 2010
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Fortune Arterial? lol so it's come to this. Maybe I should just go from where I left that game's translation off. ToHeart 2 and Loverable doesn't look bad either.
Now I started Hatsukoi Sankaime and is at the point where they started shooting their movie. Indeed Yurino's fear of men trait feels unnecessary, more like a one-time device used to imply her affection toward the protag. The rest is ok so far though.
Now I started Hatsukoi Sankaime and is at the point where they started shooting their movie. Indeed Yurino's fear of men trait feels unnecessary, more like a one-time device used to imply her affection toward the protag. The rest is ok so far though.
- Jul 1, 2015
- 684
- 277
OH WOW.
https://pp.userapi.com/c824603/v824603731/150a12/ggvUquTPcW8.jpg
I can't imagine that WillPlus ban videos with full version of their songs on YouTube. Incredible, even in Romaji they can find your video!
P.S. It's those video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpSl7jE8CfM and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpKXA5imDEY.
They saved with Russian subtitles here - https://vk.com/video-22248472_456239276 and https://vk.com/video-22248472_456239279
https://pp.userapi.com/c824603/v824603731/150a12/ggvUquTPcW8.jpg
I can't imagine that WillPlus ban videos with full version of their songs on YouTube. Incredible, even in Romaji they can find your video!
P.S. It's those video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpSl7jE8CfM and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpKXA5imDEY.
They saved with Russian subtitles here - https://vk.com/video-22248472_456239276 and https://vk.com/video-22248472_456239279
- Nov 5, 2010
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I guess full version themes are commercial by nature, but never seen anyone bother to report to Youtube before lol.
- Nov 5, 2010
- 21,339
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Memories Off? Guess we don't have that. At least it seems it will be available on Steam, maybe some few years from now. =\
By the way, to those who plan to play Summer Pockets, please give me a review later. =\
By the way, to those who plan to play Summer Pockets, please give me a review later. =\
- Oct 8, 2011
- 4,484
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- Nov 5, 2010
- 21,339
- 708
Either Veshurik just said that, or it was just your imagination. =\
What games are you playing atm, my deer [MENTION=7737]Animaksiat[/MENTION]; ?
What games are you playing atm, my deer [MENTION=7737]Animaksiat[/MENTION]; ?
- Oct 8, 2011
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[MENTION=87]Frankincense[/MENTION];
im waiting for AXL game... should be released somewhere around midnight, i saw the file in p2p
for now, im running a backlog for otoboku 3... i haven't done the last 2 route.
im waiting for AXL game... should be released somewhere around midnight, i saw the file in p2p
for now, im running a backlog for otoboku 3... i haven't done the last 2 route.
- Jul 1, 2015
- 684
- 277
Oh, AXL games! Please, say, how is that game... Because their PR campaign is nothing, I didn't see anything about their games until release. Oh, why...
Even advertising is so bad...
And releasing the trial until the week of release, that's so strange... I don't understand such politics... But AXL is still alive...
And they don't release any soundtrack and disc of EDs for their new game, as they usually do.
Even advertising is so bad...
And releasing the trial until the week of release, that's so strange... I don't understand such politics... But AXL is still alive...
And they don't release any soundtrack and disc of EDs for their new game, as they usually do.
- Oct 8, 2011
- 4,484
- 540
AXL never fails to amuse me, their story is good though some of them are parodies from another anime series.
they hardly advertise their product anymore since 2010. but hey, they still alive and kicking.... well, aoyama yukari's influential also involved though. many of AXL fans bought the game every year only to hear her voice (me included xD)
as for soundtrack i hardly ever hear them.
they hardly advertise their product anymore since 2010. but hey, they still alive and kicking.... well, aoyama yukari's influential also involved though. many of AXL fans bought the game every year only to hear her voice (me included xD)
as for soundtrack i hardly ever hear them.
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gugga wrote on Ryzen111's profile.
Hello Ryzen111,could you reupload this game, plz？Thank you.
[010420][ティータイム] 捕われた硝子の心
[010420][ティータイム] 捕われた硝子の心
Partridge wrote on Shine's profile.
Hello. This game releases tomorrow so can you share links after it releases ? thank you :)
Link= https://www.dlsite.com/pro/work/=/product_id/VJ01002812.html
Link= https://www.dlsite.com/pro/work/=/product_id/VJ01002812.html
Agent_Smith wrote on Shine's profile.
hello shine, dead links here, can complete download
https://www.anime-sharing.com/threads/131121-スタジオ-カメ-いじくりママ-コンプリートパック-dl版.224670/
https://www.anime-sharing.com/threads/131121-スタジオ-カメ-いじくりママ-コンプリートパック-dl版.224670/