Support NeoGAF

[FairFriend]

wow, so many different replies! Thank you Yuuichi, Burnburn and cj_iwakura. I'm definetely going to check out your suggestions. I'll let you know what I think of them. Cheers!

@ cj_iwakura: another think I didn't like about KS, but that might be a problem common to other VNs of this kind, is that I couldn't really tell WHY did Emi and the MC become closer all of a sudden. I mean, what was the choice that opened the path to that development? Actually I would have rather furthered my acquaintance with Hanako or Lilly, but it seems to me that I was not offered the chance before the game stirred in an almost arbitrary direction. Maybe the fact that the different paths had been written by different authors have negatively impacted the overall narrative structure...

 

[Quixzlizx]

wow, so many different replies! Thank you Yuuichi, Burnburn and cj_iwakura. I'm definetely going to check out your suggestions. I'll let you know what I think of them. Cheers!

@ cj_iwakura: another think I didn't like about KS, but that might be a problem common to other VNs of this kind, is that I couldn't really tell WHY did Emi and the MC become closer all of a sudden. I mean, what was the choice that opened the path to that development? Actually I would have rather furthered my acquaintance with Hanako or Lilly, but it seems to me that I was not offered the chance before the game stirred in an almost arbitrary direction. Maybe the fact that the different paths had been written by different authors have negatively impacted the overall narrative structure...

There's a flowchart of events in the first chapter that decides which route you end up going on. While it is somewhat arbitrary (I'm not sure how you'd make it "objective"), it is easier to find yourself on certain routes than others. I think Emi's route is the easiest one to trigger, which makes sense considering she's probably the most outgoing at the beginning.

 

[Marche90]

So I finally bought my Windows 8.1 Tablet, and it's pretty nifty one, being an 8-inch tablet instead of 7-inches. The only issues I have had so far is that since the tablet only has 16 gb of storage I haven't been able to test a single VN yet orz (oh, and I haven't fully tested the battery)

I haven't bought the sd card yet so I haven't installed anything yet. Hopefully I'll be able to do so in a few days. Can't wait.

 

[Verelios]

There's a flowchart of events in the first chapter that decides which route you end up going on. While it is somewhat arbitrary (I'm not sure how you'd make it "objective"), it is easier to find yourself on certain routes than others. I think Emi's route is the easiest one to trigger, which makes sense considering she's probably the most outgoing at the beginning.

I don't know what you're talking about, the only route is Rin.

Funny story, I've been playing Kamidori Alchemy Meister, and while I'm enjoying the gameplay segments, the actual vn portions of the game have been lacking. It actually reminds me of the same tedium Kohime Musou had, except with a more active part for the player. I can't say it's bad since I'm having fun, but it is worrying. This leads me to wonder why I don't just play an SRPG.

 

[Marche90]

I don't know what you're talking about, the only route is Rin.

Funny story, I've been playing Kamidori Alchemy Meister, and while I'm enjoying the gameplay segments, the actual vn portions of the game have been lacking. It actually reminds me of the same tedium Kohime Musou had, except with a more active part for the player. I can't say it's bad since I'm having fun, but it is worrying. This leads me to wonder why I don't just play an SRPG.

I've seen this as an issue with many vn's with gameplay:either of the two fails to live up to the other part, or it can take forever to finish one, so you only wish it would end to keep doing what you actually enjoy.

Funny story: I ended up dropping Yuminia the Ethereal before I was done with even one route because I didn't liked the gameplay section. It was almost the same with Aselia the Eternal, except that in that one I did managed to play up to three or four endings. I sorta liked the gameplay, but at the end I only wanted to keep reading, and it took forever to finish the chapters, so I dropped it in the end

 

[R_thanatos]

i wouldn't mind a trainer or a cheat for aselia or yumina.

While i feel that those games are more than ok , i often just want to enjoy the routes and i can't. Aselia in particular can be downright unforgiving at times especially if you don't want to lose so many characters.

 

[Basileus777]

i wouldn't mind a trainer or a cheat for aselia or yumina.

While i feel that those games are more than ok , i often just want to enjoy the routes and i can't. Aselia in particular can be downright unforgiving at times especially if you don't want to lose so many characters.

Aselia has a really elaborate trainer. But these are PC games, use cheat engine if you need to.

 

[Lum1n3s]

Hi peeps, first time here.

Just started playing Ace Attorney for the first time and may I say, this game is absolutely fantastic. Loving every minute of it, are there any more solid games like this?

 

[Verelios]

I've seen this as an issue with many vn's with gameplay:either of the two fails to live up to the other part, or it can take forever to finish one, so you only wish it would end to keep doing what you actually enjoy.

Funny story: I ended up dropping Yuminia the Ethereal before I was done with even one route because I didn't liked the gameplay section. It was almost the same with Aselia the Eternal, except that in that one I did managed to play up to three or four endings. I sorta liked the gameplay, but at the end I only wanted to keep reading, and it took forever to finish the chapters, so I dropped it in the end

I loved Yumina the Ethereal but the problem with it, and games like it is that you're so invested in the gameplay portion you have no inclination to restart and lost data is worse than other vns. My laptop crashed meaning I had to reboot and reformat to 6 months back losing all my data.

For other games I could use a savefile but for games like Yumina there's a really strong reluctance to do that. So I've never actually finished the game despite being a couple hours away from the end.

Hi peeps, first time here.

Just started playing Ace Attorney for the first time and may I say, this game is absolutely fantastic. Loving every minute of it, are there any more solid games like this?

Solid games like AA that I can think of would be the hotel dusk series for the DS, of Hotel dusk and its sequel, the mystery of cape cod. It's about an ex-detective who's...I guess a door to door salesman now. It's very noire, the characters are as memorable as AA's and the storyline is relatively interesting. The character interactions are the best part about the game though.

And people will be by shortly with the Danganronpa suggestions so I'll leave it to them.

 

[Blusby]

I'm halfway through a playthrough of Innocent Grey's Kara no Shoujo (ep 1). This being my first adult rated VN, I have to ask. Do the sex scenes always feel so out of place and inappropriate for adult rated VNs?

Of what's been translated yeah, unfortunately it seems that no one is either skilled or has enough time to handle anything that isn't mediocre or bad.

 

[Shiina]

Of what's been translated yeah, unfortunately it seems that no one is either skilled or has enough time to handle anything that isn't mediocre or bad.

M-moogy-senpai is that you?

 

[Basileus777]

M-moogy-senpai is that you?

Hey, Moogy actually reads Japanese.

 

[Taruranto]

I thought Swan Song and Sharnoth H-scenes were tolerable. Certatly not FSN/Cross Channel/YU-NO-level of bad.

Then again, I ctrl'ed them, so what do I know.

 

[Basileus777]

I thought Swan Song and Sharnoth H-scenes were tolerable. Certatly not FSN/Cross Channel/YU-NO-level of bad.

Then again, I ctrl'ed them, so what I do know.

The Steampunk games have pretty tasteful H scenes. But yeah, why aren't you using ctrl if they bother you?

 

[Shiina]

Hey, Moogy actually reads Japanese.

He also starts considering everything to be shit once it gets translated to English. Only the English versions of course.

 

[Waxwing]

Hi peeps, first time here.

Just started playing Ace Attorney for the first time and may I say, this game is absolutely fantastic. Loving every minute of it, are there any more solid games like this?

I started with Ace Attorney, too, and here I am. I'm going to assume the mystery solving aspect is at least a sizable part of your enjoyment. My recommendations are as follows:

DS:
999: 9 Hours, 9 Person, 9 Doors - One big mystery a la And Then There Were None plus puzzle rooms that you have to escape interspersed within. Top-notch
Virtue's Last Reward - The sequel to 999. However, if you have a vita, that version is much preferred to avoid a game-breaking bug and have higher res images. Once you finish, you can join the rest of us ardently crossing our fingers that the third game gets made and finishes the trilogy (signs are looking good).

Vita:
DanganRonpa 1 & 2 - Similar in structure to Ace Attorney (5 cases per game). People argue about whether 999/VLR or this is better. I'd say they're equally terrific. Must Play.
Virtue's Last Reward - See Above.

PC:
If you're willing to experiment a bit further, Umineko no Naku Koro Ni is one of the most exciting bits of mystery fiction I've ever encountered. A site called Witch Hunt has put out translated versions of the game, though I recommend purchasing the game from them (for the sake of legality/honesty) and then finding the version online (not hard) that has the PS3 sprites. Some people think the artwork is less expressive, but I find it much easier on the eyes. A note of caution: It's 80-100 hours long in all, and it takes 5-10 hours to get started. Once you get past that initial hump, though, boy does it take a turn for the fantastic.

Board games:
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective 10 one-time-only cases in pseudo-board game format. Really fun with a couple of friends.

Books:
If this genre interests you, why not give the classics a go? Agatha Christie, John Dickson Carr, and Ellery Queen are all quite good. I recommend Murder on the Orient Express by Christie as a starting place. It has held up extremely well and reads very quickly.

 

[Marche90]

Argh... I had posted a semi-rant yesterday before the tablet shut off, but I forgot to copy it because the forum was asking me to reload the page. It went down the drain (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Anyway, the gist of it was a follow up to the tablet post I made yesterday, how I managed to install a few things on a spare 8gb sd card that I had around, including Yumina because why not, how I originally wanted Majikoi but it wouldn't fit inside the sd, and how I'm planning to take the tablet to the store again because the battery has some issues regarding how it measures how much battery the tablet has. The battery itself works fine and holds the charge like normal, but battery estimates are severely wrong. I'm planning to wait fir a few days to see if with a few charge/discharge cycles it fixes itself.

As for VN impressions, I downloaded World End Economica to the tablet, and while the world building is nice, I have issues with the MC. Hopefully he gets better. Let's see how things progress from now on

 

[R_thanatos]

Aselia has a really elaborate trainer. But these are PC games, use cheat engine if you need to.

I really don't know much about those programs, can you tell me about the aselia trainer ??

 

[Crayten]

The Tean that finished the Maijkoi translations also picked the droped Majikoi S translation up.

http://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/9203-majikoi-s-translation-project/?p=250676

 

[Marche90]

Decided to play WEE later and instead played a bit of Yumina today. I had forgotten how funny this thing was. I really love Yumina's voice and personality.

The Tean that finished the Maijkoi translations also picked the droped Majikoi S translation up.

http://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/9203-majikoi-s-translation-project/?p=250676

YES! Koyuki Route, here I come! Also, from what I've read, the translation quality isn't bad at all. Of course, I don't know Japanese, so I have no way to check if it was a good translation or not. I didn't noticed anything weird when reading Chika's and a bit of Miyako's route, at least

Spoiler

Hopefully the'll pick up A-1 and A-2 at least after that :lol

 

[CrovaxPSO]

I recently finished my first playthrough of Fuuraiki 3. I really enjoyed it, even though the ending for the character's route I went for was pretty sad. There were signs that I shouldn't expect a particularly happy ending from the game. Going to give it a little break before I start another playthrough, and might do the solo route without pursuing another heroine.

 

[Marche90]

^Odd. There's a third game from that series? Checked VNDB and it only shows me the first two ones. Is it for the PS2, too?


So with my tablet finally back, I decided to test some stuff in there:

First, Steam's in-house streaming is an option when you're low on storage and want to play big VNs, you just need to add them to you Steam inventory and install Steam on the tablet. Not exactly for me because what I don't want is to use my laptop, but the option's there at least.
Second, Majikoi (and any VN based on its engine) and touch screens don't like each other. Tested both natively (thankfully my laptop has a touch screen too) and streamed, and both times I had severe issues, because whenever you touch somewhere the "mouse" gets stuck and when you touch again the click gets registered back to where you touched before. I can plug in the keyboard case that I have to navigate the options using the keyboard, but since it's somewhat bulky, it defeats the point of being a fully portable experience.
Third and last: Yumina the Ethereal plays fine on a touchscreen. Hopefully this time around I don't end up dropping it.

 

[Sitrus]

Second, Majikoi (and any VN based on its engine) and touch screens don't like each other. Tested both natively (thankfully my laptop has a touch screen too) and streamed, and both times I had severe issues, because whenever you touch somewhere the "mouse" gets stuck and when you touch again the click gets registered back to where you touched before.

I have been using this tool called TouchMousePointer which works with some games. Enables you to make a virtual mouse pad on a tablet screen which helps with some games.

 

[CrovaxPSO]

^Odd. There's a third game from that series? Checked VNDB and it only shows me the first two ones. Is it for the PS2, too?

It was originally a PC release from 2013 that just got a Vita port in February. It is strange that VNDB doesn't even have the PC version listed, huh.

 

[bomblord1]

There's a free "sunrider: mask of something or other" game on steam I keep seeing in my suggested games. is it anyone good?

 

[cj_iwakura]

There's a free "sunrider: mask of something or other" game on steam I keep seeing in my suggested games. is it anyone good?

I enjoyed the demo. Not sure if the full game holds up.

 

[AmaterasuOkami076]

Apologies if this has been answered before, the only visual novel I've ever really played is 999 and I loved it. I've been looking at Steins;Gate coming out soon on Vita and I've heard of the series for a long time but never really looked into it. I've shied away from VNs mostly because of the level of fan-service I expected them to have. Does Steins;Gate have a lot of fan-service or is it relatively tame?

 

[cj_iwakura]

Apologies if this has been answered before, the only visual novel I've ever really played is 999 and I loved it. I've been looking at Steins;Gate coming out soon on Vita and I've heard of the series for a long time but never really looked into it. I've shied away from VNs mostly because of the level of fan-service I expected them to have. Does Steins;Gate have a lot of fan-service or is it relatively tame?

It's by and large very tame(apart from violence when things get going). It has exactly one fan service scene, easily overlooked. It's just a still image with text, and lasts for all of a minute.

Spoiler

Oh no they're in the shower! -Aaa close the door!
Usual anime trope.

 

[Funyarinpa]

It's by and large very tame(apart from violence when things get going). It has exactly one fan service scene, easily overlooked. It's just a still image with text, and lasts for all of a minute.

Spoiler

Oh no they're in the shower! -Aaa close the door!
Usual anime trope.

S;G spoilers

Spoiler

You forgot the part where Okabe forcibly checks whether or not Luka has lady parts or man parts at one point

 

[Shizuka]

Any news regarding Higurashi on Steam? No?

 

[AmaterasuOkami076]

It's by and large very tame(apart from violence when things get going). It has exactly one fan service scene, easily overlooked. It's just a still image with text, and lasts for all of a minute.

Spoiler

Oh no they're in the shower! -Aaa close the door!
Usual anime trope.

Awesome, thank you. Are there any other similar ones you might suggest? Just so I've got a couple of options.

 

[cj_iwakura]

S;G spoilers

Spoiler

You forgot the part where Okabe forcibly checks whether or not Luka has lady parts or man parts at one point

I remember that, but I didn't think of it as fan service, especially not like how the other poster was thinking. It's just Okabe being a creep.

Awesome, thank you. Are there any other similar ones you might suggest? Just so I've got a couple of options.

Phenomeno.

You could easily finish it in two hours. Play it at night.

 

[Loona]

There's a free "sunrider: mask of something or other" game on steam I keep seeing in my suggested games. is it anyone good?

I didn't finish it, but the tactical part can be hard outside the easiest setting.
I wasn't much of a fan of most of the cast or the recyled assests - but then again, free game.

 

[AmaterasuOkami076]

I remember that, but I didn't think of it as fan service, especially not like how the other poster was thinking. It's just Okabe being a creep.



Phenomeno.

You could easily finish it in two hours. Play it at night.

I'll check it out. Thanks!

 

[JulianImp]

Any news regarding Higurashi on Steam? No?

Looks like there're no news about it, sadly. At this rate, it looks like I might be able to learn enough Japanese to read through the first DS game before they give a definitive launch date (hope not, though). I'd definitely love to support the series, even though I don't think paying <$10 per chapter would be worth it for me. For that much I could get the fabled 4th Kizuna game on DS at a BookOff, which I gave up on during my last trip to Japan since it was a bit overpriced for my budget at ¥4,500 for an used, non-collector's edition copy.

Also starting Phenomeno, so I'll post my impressions later.

 

[R_thanatos]

There's a free "sunrider: mask of something or other" game on steam I keep seeing in my suggested games. is it anyone good?

It's an alright game.

Not the prettiest game but it works out.
The story starts Strong , then you have some slow moments, and then the rest of the show continues and you can tell that the writter found his groove.

The gameplay reminded me of the galaxy angel games but without the 3D battles. Your goal is to undertake missions, get enough money to upgrade your ship and your robots and then deal with all the sh*t the game throw at you. Some battles will test your planning skills even at normal difficulty so there is a decent challenges. You have some sides missions too that happens at times.

The Gameplay is good. right now they have found a formula that works and you can have fun with it.In battle it's a turn based battle system. If you're not playing on easy , you'll need to save often.

The VN part is different, between each mission, you can talk to your crew ( and cast ) in order to improve your relationships with them. it's a standard Vn situation and the dialog is decent enough. Not a masterpiece , but there is nothing wrong with it.

Sunrider mask of arcadius is made of 2 "games" , mask of arcadius is actually the sequel , but the first part " first arrival " is included. In short , your decisions during "first arrival" , will decide witch route you'll follow in "mask or arcadius".

The game is not finished , there is the third part whose name is currently undisclosed i believe that should arrive maybe this year. But you can try it now as the game has a decent lenght now.

 

[bomblord1]

It's an alright game.

Not the prettiest game but it works out.
The story starts Strong , then you have some slow moments, and then the rest of the show continues and you can tell that the writter found his groove.

The gameplay reminded me of the galaxy angel games but without the 3D battles. Your goal is to undertake missions, get enough money to upgrade your ship and your robots and then deal with all the sh*t the game throw at you. Some battles will test your planning skills even at normal difficulty so there is a decent challenges. You have some sides missions too that happens at times.

The Gameplay is good. right now they have found a formula that works and you can have fun with it.In battle it's a turn based battle system. If you're not playing on easy , you'll need to save often.

The VN part is different, between each mission, you can talk to your crew ( and cast ) in order to improve your relationships with them. it's a standard Vn situation and the dialog is decent enough. Not a masterpiece , but there is nothing wrong with it.

Sunrider mask of arcadius is made of 2 "games" , mask of arcadius is actually the sequel , but the first part " first arrival " is included. In short , your decisions during "first arrival" , will decide witch route you'll follow in "mask or arcadius".

The game is not finished , there is the third part whose name is currently undisclosed i believe that should arrive maybe this year. But you can try it now as the game has a decent lenght now.

That's a great summary thanks!

 

[Basileus777]

I enjoyed Sunrider as well. It's a decent strategy game mixed with VN elements. And it's free.

 

[Twin Tails]

Upcoming Releases for PC/Steam

• WORLD END ECONOMiCA episode.02 - Spring 2015
• RaidersSphere4th - March 23 2015 (Early Access)
• Sunrider Academy - Released via Early Access
• Kokonoe Kokoro - April 2015
• Hitomebore - April 2015
• CLANNAD - Q4 2015
  [*]The Way We All Go - Demo out on March 23rd 2015 and full game March 24th 2015
• fault milestone two - Demo out April 2015
  [*]Ame no Marginal - April/May 2015
  [*]The Fruit of Grisaia - April/May 2015
  [*]The Reject Demon: Toko Chapter 0 - April/May 2015

 

[Jotamide]

*Upcoming games*

And still no Higurashi When They Cry. At this point I'd rather have someone localize the PS3/Vita ports.

 

[Quixzlizx]

And still no Higurashi When They Cry. At this point I'd rather have someone localize the PS3/Vita ports.

That was a list of Sekai Project games. I think Higurashi is Mangagamer.

 

[Marche90]

Finally finished the fabled Miyako route in Majikoi. I have to say I didn't expected to enjoy it as much as I did, especially because I was spoiled of a plot point in the story, and thought that it would be a lot worse than what it was (I was worried about how the spoiler developed, I didn't minded at all being spoiled). Plus that ending was sweet <3.

Now to finish what's left of it.

That was a list of Sekai Project games. I think Higurashi is Mangagamer.

Ayup.

 

[cj_iwakura]

That was a list of Sekai Project games. I think Higurashi is Mangagamer.

Scary that SP are managing a bigger output than a vet like MG. MG need to hurry up, because if anyone's going to do Umineko, it's them.

 

[Shizuka]

After months of postponing, I started Phenomeno today. That is, the first minute or so, before the game crashed and never worked again. I guess that's it for my PC running visual novels that aren't downloaded from Steam, same thing happened when I tried other visual novels last year.

 

[Jotamide]

After months of postponing, I started Phenomeno today. That is, the first minute or so, before the game crashed and never worked again. I guess that's it for my PC running visual novels that aren't downloaded from Steam, same thing happened when I tried other visual novels last year.

Whoa scary, today I also installed Phenomeno. Make sure you rename the folder where it is installed to something non-Japanese; otherwise, the english patch won't work. Then, in order to play you have to run Start_Game.bat, not the .exe file.

EDIT: lol I just noticed it had been posted as a recommendation above

 

[Marche90]

After months of postponing, I started Phenomeno today. That is, the first minute or so, before the game crashed and never worked again. I guess that's it for my PC running visual novels that aren't downloaded from Steam, same thing happened when I tried other visual novels last year.

Odd, you tried to play fan-translated ones or those released officially in English?

If it's the former probably your regional configuration is wrong. Haven't had any issues running anything on win 8, 32 and 64-bit flavors, even the tablet version, so I find your case very odd

 

[cj_iwakura]

After months of postponing, I started Phenomeno today. That is, the first minute or so, before the game crashed and never worked again. I guess that's it for my PC running visual novels that aren't downloaded from Steam, same thing happened when I tried other visual novels last year.

I hope you get it working, I know people who aren't even into VNs that loved it.

 

[Shizuka]

I think I got it to work now, thanks to Jotamide's help. I did play Home in the meanwhile, I guess it can be considered somewhat of a visual novel? That was eerie in its own way.

 

[yami4ct]

Finally decided to check out Uchikoshi's Infinity trilogy in the wake of a potential ZE3 announcement and got Never7+its fan translation up and running. Runs like crap when not windowed, but whatever.

Heard the first one is pretty much a standard dating VN with a twist near then end. I'm pretty OK with that. It's very standard so far, but I'm excited to see how he builds this into the typical Uchikoshi crazy Ever17 and its sequel supposedly are.

Oh, and I really dig the music in this. It's the usual repetitive little electric thing a lot of VNs have, but I find it super catchy.

 

[Blusby]

Hikaru Sakurai anime soon! http://sakuraihikaru.com/#anime