General Visual Novel Topic

Off-Topic
#174

Soo… I have finished Coμ - Kuroi Ryuu to Yasashii Oukoku - today.
First things first, the feature of disabling H-scenes is one of the best parts of the game. I find the amount of H-scenes in this game disturbing. 5 routes, but 9 sexually involved heroines with an average of 2 scenes each -_-
At first, I thought the characters are just really casual about it, you know, like youth nowadays. But lolnope - it’s just porn. The placement of the H-scenes is horrible. Merely knowing that ‘it happened’ at some points in the story is quite immersion-breaking, though not having to see it does reduce the damage.

Now that I got that out of my system…
The game ranks quite high in terms of story and characters. Especially Izawa, Gasai and Kagome really stand out as excellent and interesting characters.
This VN’s main topic is ‘connections’, as in ‘interpersonal relationships’. It’s incorporated into the story quite well.
The storytelling itself is kinda inconsistent in terms of quality. The important scenes are well-executed, but the buildup to them is sometimes lacking. The scenes that are supposed to set a certain mood often fail to do so. There are many moments throughout the game where you can’t really tell where the story is headed.
I liked all routes, except for that one short, utterly pointless one.

So yeah, I enjoyed the game, though I could’ve enjoyed it more if it weren’t for certain faults.

#175

That still sounds about average to me. most modern VNs I’ve played are 4-5 heroines with 3-4 H scenes each. plus a few more if they have bonus routes for side characters.

As an example of the extreme: Kamidori Alchemy Meister, a game that I KNOW other people on here have played, has only 3 routes, but more than 20 sexually involved heroines for a total of 52 H scenes. not to mention half of the enemies fight while naked and/or are questionably shaped.

#176

Favorite route? I remember thinking Hisoka’s was the best simply because it was one of the two that felt most complete while remaining relevant to the overall story. Kagome’s felt complete, but I just didn’t enjoy it as much as the rest of the VN. I think I was burnt out or something~
Benio’s was a bit of an introduction really, and it fell short by quite a bit. Mayuki’s was fun to read, but it felt like it belonged more on a fandisk than anything.

I did like how certain events that you see in specific routes were hinted at in others. A nice little bit of consistency.

#177

Surprisingly, my favorite route was Benio’s. It fleshed out her character really well and it focused mostly on the coμnet and Caesar, which are the most interesting parts of the story. Hisoka’s route was good, too, but Hisoka didn’t get enough screentime there, so the romance kinda came out of nowhere. Mayuki’s route was entertaining despite not involving the coμnet and only having 2 battles. It instead focused on the ‘normal life’ aspect. Mayuki being my favorite character, I didn’t have much to complain about here. The existence of Mayuki’s route made me question the purpose of Ayaya’s route, which was pretty much redundant, being focused on the normal life as well on top of being very short.
Despite Kagome’s being the final route, the writing was somewhat off. It suffered the most from failure of buildup and it involved a bit too many characters and too many scenes, which weakened the reader’s focus and changed the mood too often. The plot twists were good though ^^

I gotta say, Benio was the most surprising element of the game for me. I expected her to be the typical easy-to-get lovestruck heroine with a mediocre route, but her character had quite a lot of depth. Her ideals were naive, but she still held her ground. She fulfilled her role as an ally of justice in a cruel world very well, showing a lot of strength and without being reduced to a comic relief.

#178

So eden* came out in English and for reasons I’ve got to reading it, a little over an hour in.

Wow, so boring, much 12 year old self insert, such pretentious.

#179

this is fairly off topic(which is why I replied here instead of the other thread) but do you remember a while ago when I was looking for a new VN to play and I sent the skype chat a bunch of pictures and had them vote on which one to play? (Hug-Chan anyone?)

well I’m currently playing one of those VNs that I was sending pictures from back then: 放課後の不適格者. though you might remember it better with this:

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and this:
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well long story short, this game is basically complete and utter darkness. so dark, that you probably shouldn’t go anywhere near it if you enjoy being happy(and yes, I know that means basically everyone).

I had heard that it was a dark story from a couple people, and I had just finished a really positive VN, so I thought I would go for something a little less happy. Despite being a huge fan of really dark stories, this VN still caught me off guard with how utterly fucked up it is, and the prologue alone shot all the way to the top of my “most fucked up things ever read” list. (which, if you’re wondering why I’m saying this and/or why I quoted @Bizkitdoh, its because Haruka’s bad end in LB ranked fairly high on that list and it made me think to post something).

At the very least though, its a pretty well done game, it has great music, interesting characters, and hard to put down; so its pretty deserving of it’s high ratings. its just a horribly cruel and fucked up story.

1 Like
#180

I know absolutely nothing about that VN (except for I think I remember seeing it when it was released), but your description makes me really want to read it… oh well, I guess I’ll just add it to my ever-growing VNDB wishlist.

As a side note, I saw the screenshots on the VNDB page, and the font looks kinda hard to read~ Is it bothering you at all?

#181

oddly enough, I had the same thought at first. the font did make it a bit harder to read when I first started, but it really only took a little getting used to.

it seems to have the opposite effect whenever I tell people my opinion of the game, as you’re the 3rd person who’s told me they want to play it off a similar description. I’m really not lying about how fucked up it is. I normally enjoy really dark stories, but this goes way beyond that. If it hadn’t been for a good friend of mine joining me to traverse the abyss, I probably would have dropped it after the prologue. There are no happy ends, and the closest thing to being happy at all in the game are the H scenes, which consist of mostly rape/assault/bdsm anyways. (you know its fucked up when being raped by the protagonist is the happiest moment for the heroine in her own route)

#182

THE CONTINUATION.(Spoiler Free)

Short Story:

Long Story:

It got better. That whole Military base part was crap, straight crap. Unfortunately that’s half the VN, way too much of it, it drags the overall thing down too much.
Other flaws include the protagonist I eluded too in that post. He’s just a dull, perfect, cool guy made to make the readers self inserting feel good about themselves, I do not self insert, and I hate ‘perfect’ characters, so having that as a protagonist earned the VN none of my favor.
I was fonder of the second half, but that doesn’t speak much if I didn’t like the first half. Second half is, however, far more my flavor of things, even if half the lines belonged to that bland brick of a protagonist, also best girl showed up during it, she was delicious, everyone bullied her and it was something I really enjoyed.
It did drag a bit near the end though, just a bit.

It was quite visually interesting, for a VN, it strived to be cinematic, it made ‘shots’ with it’s CG’s often, had animated faces, it even had it’s god damn montages, one moment in particularly I was fond of was putting a character mug out of focus when the scene called for attention to something drawn on the background. Overall it gets props there, it tried and didn’t go unnoticed. Artwork is fairly generic anime, but fairly pleasing.

“But that Music tho”
“If I wanted to hear this music I’d play ef”
Doesn’t mean it’s not good or anything it’s just ‘yep this is music’.

I think the biggest flaw overall is that it spent way too much time building a world that was kind of bland, and didn’t build it in an interesting manner, going entirely on tell, not show. I don’t consider a 50/50 split on the good/bad a good thing, way too much time was wasted on frankly boring content, it’s a consistent theme also, half the characters are crap, the other half are pretty cool.
Also it had a 10/10 awful attempt to turn a lewd scene and CG PG for the All Ages version, “she covered her chest…even though that swimsuit didn’t cover much” and “I’M WEARING A SWIMSUIT BUT I STILL SHOWED TOO MUCH SKIN”, I laughed my ass off.

tl;dr: 6/10 The good it has cannot float with the weight tied too it.

1 Like
#183

OK so maybe what I meant is “Your description makes me really want to know what kinda of story could be so fucked up that you would describe it in such a way”, because now its kinda starting to creep me out

#184

I have to ask, about how much time total did it take for you to finish the game? it’s been on my list for a while and I’ll probably read it next time I decide that I want to read something in English, but what you say about it makes me not so sure I would be willing to invest very much time into it, regardless of how good it gets toward the end.

[quote=“yerian98, post:183, topic:108, full:true”]
OK so maybe what I meant is “Your description makes me really want to know what kinda of story could be so fucked up that you would describe it in such a way”, because now its kinda starting to creep me out
[/quote]that’s more like it! haha.

the goal was originally to finish it last night, but I got distracted and ended up leaving almost a whole route for today. Good news is that it’s pretty short though and I’ll probably be able to finish it tonight. When that happens I could write a little bit about it (much like Kanon did right above you) if you’re interested.

#185

5-6 hours perhaps.
That first half is noticeable really what I DON’T like in my VN’s, it should be noted.

#186

oh. that’s not bad at all. I don’t have a huge deal sitting through an hour or two of bad content if the rest of it is pretty good. hell, that’s what most AAA games make us do nowadays anyways

#187

The Grisaia fans will love it.

#188

Bonus points, the protagonist is a super cool army vet who’s exceptionally skilled and edgy.
The Grisaia fans will be all over this shit.

1 Like
#189

I was interested up until this point. I enjoy a dark story now and then, and would welcome something new, but… yeah. That’s just too much for me. Well, I still have yet to read MOON. so there’s always that.

I think Grisaia won the record for most time spent holding down the CTRL key when I read it.

#190

I’m pretty sure I’ve already established this, but when I started reading visual novels, I had very little income. Even now, I probably make much less than any of the people here in this forum. So, most of the experiences I had with visual novels was anything I could legally download for free.

The first of these was called Brass Restoration. It’s about a boy with an ambition to become a percussionist, but a train accident severs his left(?) arm, robbing him of his future. The whole visual novel focuses on his coping with his lost arm, and finding a new purpose with the love of his life (which, of course, changes depending on your choices). The only thing I have against this doujin novel is that it has no sound test. The music is all piano and it’s not the best quality, but it is beautiful regardless. Each of the four (there’s a fifth one that’s lampshaded for not having a route) heroine’s routes offers something different and enjoyable, although they are not without their own problems.

The next one is Tsuki no Terasu, or Moonshine. I was disappointed at first because it was a kinetic novel, but I still appreciate the amount of work that went into the story and presentation (aside from the majority of the music, which is rather repetitive). The story is simple, one that warms your heart one moment and then breaks it the next. It’s about a guy who is forced to find a new job after losing his old one, so he finds work at a transvestite bar. He befriends one of the ‘girls’, named Mai, and the story is about the fun times and trials they experience. It’s not the greatest story ever, but it’s a good enough one to recommend. Did I mention there is both voice acting (for Mai, that is) and a vocal theme in this?

The most recent one (and the one before I started playing Kanon) is May Sky. Before I talk about the story, I want to point out that this kinetic novel has some of the best piano music I have ever heard. Again, not the best quality, but good lord, does it sound good. The novel is about a man who, fed up with his boredom during Golden Week, decides to take a walk outside. (Riveting, I know. XD) But along the way, he hears a piano in the distance. He comes across a shrine maiden named Minori Kamiake, whom he decides to visit frequently because he has nothing else better to do. The story is about their rocky relationship, and their eventual bond as they get to know each other. The story, again, isn’t the greatest thing ever, but that music…There’s even a sort of ‘after story’ segment after reading through the entire thing, which I like, because I just love these characters. I wish I could see more. :3

I appreciate doujin novels. They aren’t the best looking or the best sounding, but they have a lot of heart put into them. People think of them as mediocre, but I consider them works of art. They will always have a place in my heart, separate from the triple A titles that Key and all those other visual novel studios crank out.

1 Like
#191

Every time someone asks for a short VN, or a free VN, or a quick read, I recommend that. It’s amazing. When I first read it I was like… 12 or 13, so I didn’t understand it until the end. Re-read it a few times since then because someone ported it to psp, and it’s a nice story to read while traveling.
Mai’s song is probably one of my favorite VN tracks ever. It’s in my head at least once a week, and it’s been an inspiration of a few tracks I’ve made.

I also recommend Tokoyo no Hoshizora/Red Shift when I recommend Moonshine. It’s also free, the story is a bit more cliche, but it’s still worth reading.

1 Like
#192

Thanks for the recommendation. Is there any way I can get it without having to rely on a torrent client? I don’t like using torrents, and that seems to be the only way to obtain it right now. ><

#193

I’ve gotten really into the KS VN’s that have been popping up from Sekai and elsewhere. Exogenesis being a big one. I found out about it through Operation Bluebird and as soon as I read “heavily influence by Phoenix Wright and Zero Escape” I was all in. I’ve been a PW fan since I picked up the first game by accident, and VLR is still my favority Vita game I own. So I’m really excited for it, I’ve held off playing the demo’s so far because I know I’ll be running my head into the wall when I hit the end of the demo and the full game isn’t out yet.

Fault Milestone One was the other one that I went in on really heavy on KS. Honestly the art style sold me on this one I saw the screen shots first read the synopsis later. What I wasn’t expecting was the music. I played through it (only about 4 hours long) and the music blew me away, especially the bar music it just felt so appropriate. I loved how most of the characters weren’t ever what you thought when you first saw them they all had another side. My only gripe is how short the first installment was and how they establish the main story and the rest of one is sort of a side story and then as soon as you get back to the main storyline the credits roll. Can’t wait for Fault Milestone Two as soon as it comes out everything else is getting put on hold.

A big reason why I like the kickstarter for the VN’s though is I am a collector fiend I love having my shiny bits. And Fault yielded pretty well.

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