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Visual Novels Community Thread | A Little Something for Everyone

I'm just giving up on Phenomeno, sorry everybody. How is eden*? It's on sale right now.

It's a solid VN that I felt went on a bit too long. The first half of it is better than the 2nd half and the ending felt anticlimactic. But it's worth $10. It has impressive production values for a VN. There's a lot of nice art.
 

Quixzlizx

Member
Is there a way of getting all of eden*'s content into a Steam install? It just irks me when I have the feeling I'm playing an incomplete game.
 
Is there a way of getting all of eden*'s content into a Steam install? It just irks me when I have the feeling I'm playing an incomplete game.
You can copy the adult version over the Stean install and it works. I don't think there is any difference in the main scenario between the two though, there's just extra alternate continuity ero side stories.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Phenomeno is the real deal, I'm very satisfied. Also, how come the game is available for free?

Because it's essentially a promo for an ongoing light novel series. ABe does the art for the covers, too.

The story continues after that amazing ending.

epiKTY8.jpg

ltctPng.jpg
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Glad you enjoyed it!

Man, a full-length sequel to Phenomeno would be so good, it already has all the fundamentals, it just... needs to get made!

Me and you can write it, use a free VN maker, and beg ABe to do some illustrations for us. Maybe he'll say yes!
 

yami4ct

Member
Almost done with Never7. Only have a couple more normal routes, then I suspect things will start getting really weird. Have some thoughts on the routes I've done, but I'll probably hold those until I can do a post on the full game.

Steam never gets the good stuff. It's like a curse. Steins;Gate really needs to kick that door down. I pray that 5pb will then see the light and the flood gates open.

With the increase in Japanese games on Steam and general and seemingly more and more VNs getting localized, I really hope that the genre gets a foothold there. Could mean a really massive breakthrough for seeing PC VNs translated.
 
Everything Sekai Project does is on Steam, MangaGamer is putting all ages versions of their stuff on there, and even JAST has finally put up a title. The move to Steam has already happened. Anything localized with an all-ages version goes up there now, sometimes new versions are made to do it like with Littlewitch Romanesque. S;G is the bizarre exception because 5pb is stupid.
 

Yuuichi

Member
It was a stipulation in the origial contract iirc, it's just really silly for a lot of reasons.

The move to steam has been really interesting to me especially with the advent of that steamspy thing or whatever it's called, sales numbers are super useful for painting a picture of the industry for me considering I have a decent understanding of how things work on the Japanese end.

Which really just leads me to this, even though it sounds preachy: buy the games you want to play. I know piracy is a problem in this industry and I could write a nice academic paper for you about it (and would probably enjoy it) but there are easier ways to explain it.

This isn't a 1m unit/game industry.

This isn't even a 100k unit/game industry

This is an industry where your 10k unit/game did pretty damn decent.

Your purchase really matters, because even though it looks like a big industry, it really isn't. Buy your games, people. Your money really does matter in this case.

Also, last month's stuff finally got here, goodbye free time (tiny bit of barely NSFW in the corner)
 
It was a stipulation in the origial contract iirc, it's just really silly for a lot of reasons.

The move to steam has been really interesting to me especially with the advent of that steamspy thing or whatever it's called, sales numbers are super useful for painting a picture of the industry for me considering I have a decent understanding of how things work on the Japanese end.

Steamspy apparently isn't accurate with very low sale numbers, so it's not giving us much information about more than a small number of VNs on Steam.

what's steamspy
It's a way to get sales numbers for Steam games by scrapping data from the Steam API.
 

Yuuichi

Member
what's steamspy
http://steamspy.com/

There's a big thread of people talking about it floating around somewhere on this board, and I know of several people on twitter who verified the accuracy of sales numbers within the given predicted window.

Steamspy apparently isn't accurate with very low sale numbers, so it's not giving us much information about more than a small number of VNs on Steam.
It's a way to get sales numbers for Steam games by scrapping data from the Steam API.

As far as I know it's always accurate within the given window, and even having bounds is better than nothing; the only way I actually got numbers before was asking Payne directly.

Edit: interesting, some of the titles I saw data for in the past few days are now seemingly have delisted ownership estimates. It still gives more than enough insight to give me a general picture, which is far better than my guesswork.
 
As far as I know it's always accurate within the given window, and even having bounds is better than nothing; the only way I actually got numbers before was asking Payne directly.
The creator of Steamspy himself has said so. Games with 4 digits owners are too small of a sample apparently, which is what many VNs on Steam have. I'm trying to find where I saw this discussion, but there is this.
 

yami4ct

Member
Speaking of Steam VNs, I'll probably be scooping up some stuff when I finish the Infinity series, so I'm open to recommendations. I've pretty much played nothing in the genre, so I'm open to anything. Anything that has a bit of mystery to it is going to be even more favored to me, but as long as it isn't a bog standard dating sim, I'll probably give it a go. Being on Steam is a huge plus for me, but as long as I can get it on some sort of digital download store, I'm game.

Some VN style games I've enjoyed:
Never 7
Zero Escape series
Ace Attorney
Corpse Party (Not really a VN, but it certainly gives me that feeling in a lot of ways)
Fate/Stay Night (Sort of. It's basically half awesome, half the worst thing)
Analogue: A Hate Story
 

Yuuichi

Member
The creator of Steamspy himself has said so. Games with 4 digits owners are too small of a sample apparently, which is what many VNs on Steam have.

We still know it has four digit sales then, I consider that a victory. I don't think anything on steam could possibly sell less than four digits just by virtue of audience size.
 

LX_Theo

Banned
Speaking of Steam VNs, I'll probably be scooping up some stuff when I finish the Infinity series, so I'm open to recommendations. I've pretty much played nothing in the genre, so I'm open to anything. Anything that has a bit of mystery to it is going to be even more favored to me, but as long as it isn't a bog standard dating sim, I'll probably give it a go. Being on Steam is a huge plus for me, but as long as I can get it on some sort of digital download store, I'm game.

Some VN style games I've enjoyed:
Never 7
Zero Escape series
Ace Attorney
Corpse Party (Not really a VN, but it certainly gives me that feeling in a lot of ways)
Fate/Stay Night (Sort of. It's basically half awesome, half the worst thing)
Analogue: A Hate Story
Seeing Zero Escape and Ace Attorney on there basically says Danganronpa should be high on your radar.
 

yami4ct

Member
Seeing Zero Escape and Ace Attorney on there basically says Danganronpa should be high on your radar.

Knew I forgot one. Already played 1 and 2. Adored 1. One of my favorite vita games behind VLR and Persona 4 Golden. Didn't love 2 as much, but it was still pretty fun. Looking forward to the weird shooter spinoff.
 
Speaking of Steam VNs, I'll probably be scooping up some stuff when I finish the Infinity series, so I'm open to recommendations. I've pretty much played nothing in the genre, so I'm open to anything. Anything that has a bit of mystery to it is going to be even more favored to me, but as long as it isn't a bog standard dating sim, I'll probably give it a go. Being on Steam is a huge plus for me, but as long as I can get it on some sort of digital download store, I'm game.

Some VN style games I've enjoyed:
Never 7
Zero Escape series
Ace Attorney
Corpse Party (Not really a VN, but it certainly gives me that feeling in a lot of ways)
Fate/Stay Night (Sort of. It's basically half awesome, half the worst thing)
Analogue: A Hate Story

You'll be playing Remember11, yes? If not, that and Ever17 should be next in line.

If you like murder mystery, Umineko is definitely a go. I would also recommend Steins; Gate.
 

yami4ct

Member
You should try Sweet Fuse, you can play that on your Vita.

That premise is so good. For $10, it's definitely on my list.
You'll be playing Remember11, yes? If not, that and Ever17 should be next in line.

If you like murder mystery, Umineko is definitely a go. I would also recommend Steins; Gate.

Ever 17 is next after I finish Never 7 (probably doing that tonight). Remember 11 is of course coming after to finish it off. Will definitely throw Umineko on the list. Is Steins;Gate game still worth it if I've watched the anime? Given how the anime works, I suspect I'd lose a lot of the value of the cool way I assume the VN is structured given I've seen the show.
 
That premise is so good. For $10, it's definitely on my list.


Ever 17 is next after I finish Never 7 (probably doing that tonight). Remember 11 is of course coming after to finish it off. Will definitely throw Umineko on the list. Is Steins;Gate game still worth it if I've watched the anime? Given how the anime works, I suspect I'd lose a lot of the value of the cool way I assume the VN is structured given I've seen the show.

The anime, to my knowledge, (small S;G spoilers related to structure)
follows the true ending. There are four other endings you can get throughout the VN, and some of those are INTENSE. Definitely worth a go, for the other endings if nothing else.
 
So it seems like one of the translators (or the translator?) for Fantastic Boyfriends: Legends of Midearth is GAF's own apricot! She talked a bit about the game and the upcoming crowdfunding project on her website, it's definitely worth a look.

I'm beyond excited for this game. :D
 

LX_Theo

Banned
You should try Sweet Fuse, you can play that on your Vita.

Is Sweet Fuse notable on the pandering of the guys (like fanservice you see in some ither VNs basically)? I'm not a big fan of blatant fanservice. With girls its... More tolerable. At least for me. Just wanted to know before I look more deeply into it myself. Isn't a complete turn-off, but I'd like to know going in.
 

Shizuka

Member
Is Sweet Fuse notable on the pandering of the guys (like fanservice you see in some ither VNs basically)? I'm not a big fan of blatant fanservice. With girls its... More tolerable. At least for me. Just wanted to know before I look more deeply into it myself. Isn't a complete turn-off, but I'd like to know going in.

It's really, really light, to the point where I've read positive feedback from straight guys in a lot of places.
 

LX_Theo

Banned
It's really, really light, to the point where I've read positive feedback from straight guys in a lot of places.

Okay, great then. I was wondering what put me off trying it in the past and I think that fear had made me prioritize other games before. Thanks.
 

gaiages

Banned
Speaking of Steam VNs, I'll probably be scooping up some stuff when I finish the Infinity series, so I'm open to recommendations. I've pretty much played nothing in the genre, so I'm open to anything. Anything that has a bit of mystery to it is going to be even more favored to me, but as long as it isn't a bog standard dating sim, I'll probably give it a go. Being on Steam is a huge plus for me, but as long as I can get it on some sort of digital download store, I'm game.

Some VN style games I've enjoyed:
Never 7
Zero Escape series
Ace Attorney
Corpse Party (Not really a VN, but it certainly gives me that feeling in a lot of ways)
Fate/Stay Night (Sort of. It's basically half awesome, half the worst thing)
Analogue: A Hate Story

For a couple Steam titles (in addition to some pretty great recommendations already), I really enjoyed Fault Milestone One. Also, Narcissu is free to play on Steam, and the first one is pretty great imo (I was kinda meh on 2nd)

I'll admit though, both the games have nothing in the way of gameplay, not even in the form of dialogue choices (well Fault has a single choice, but it's barely a choice at that), so you will just be straight up reading. So yeah, keep that in mind.
 

yami4ct

Member
Just finished both Curé endings in Never 7. Holy crap were those interesting. Still need time to process them, but they definitely made the game a really interesting whole. Will check out the epilogue and Izumi route tomorrow to finish all the ends. I'm assuming the Izumi route is just
one big fan service thing
at this point, so I don't expect much.

For a couple Steam titles (in addition to some pretty great recommendations already), I really enjoyed Fault Milestone One. Also, Narcissu is free to play on Steam, and the first one is pretty great imo (I was kinda meh on 2nd)

I'll admit though, both the games have nothing in the way of gameplay, not even in the form of dialogue choices (well Fault has a single choice, but it's barely a choice at that), so you will just be straight up reading. So yeah, keep that in mind.

Just downloaded the free one, because why not. Will give it a read whenever I have for the time. Will definitely give the other a shot. Don't really mind the lack of choice. Choice really only works if the game handles it well. If it doesn't need that choice and is well written without it, I have no issues with it not being forced in.

The anime, to my knowledge, (small S;G spoilers related to structure)
follows the true ending. There are four other endings you can get throughout the VN, and some of those are INTENSE. Definitely worth a go, for the other endings if nothing else.

Good to know. I'll definitely put it on the list to check it out. Will be a great way to refresh for S;G Zero when that comes, anyway.
 

takoyaki

Member
The Aksys teaser page is due to change this evening (maybe) right?

Maybe, but it could have already been more than a week and nothing has changed so far (not sure on the exact time "ring" , "salt" and "ring" appeared on the site).

The word(s) appeared on late March 31st / early April 1st, depending on your timezone. axisofweevils brought up the idea that a word appears once we enter a new month. Now that this really looks like a three month wait, the idea makes sense.

Only 3+ weeks until we get a new word.....yay....
 
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