I tried Fureraba for a while and honestly, it wasn’t all that entertaining. I thought the beginning was pretty boring. What do you guys think of it?
Well, it’s reaching the point of finding another visual novel to start since to be quite fair, I haven’t read an average or better visual novel all year (and certainly not one I would suggest to people who want to spend their time wisely at the very least).
The second game in the Ace Attorney series is just not that good IMHO (although the last case remains), Neko-Nin was really weak, and Karakara was fine enough but not memorable or anything.
So this is the question: if you were to suggest a Key VN to someone who is going through tough times and serious mental dilemmas, which one would it be? Harmonia has already been read, and I’ve watched Kanon '06 and loved it but that’s about it. Would it be better to read something else entirely or to provide a list of any sort, or to even answer specific questions?
Thank you very much!
EDIT: Thinking about it a bit, it’s possible that the best answer is a slice-of-life or mostly action based VN.
Steins;Gate Elite Launching on PS4, Switch and PC in Early 2019
Developer MAGES. Inc and publisher Spike Chunsoft have announced that Steins;Gate Elite, the HD rework of the lauded visual novel, will be launching in early 2019 for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC.
http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2018/7952.html
That applies to North America and Europe. Was hoping for it this year, but it’s not as if I haven’t already played S;G
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It might be a little late, but depending on the person’s personal taste, it can be a VN to disperse your mind into a mindless straightforward novel. I personally enjoyed it the first 2 routes, afterwards, it was just repetitive and straightforward, so it ended up being pretty boring.
I’m playing Umineko, but i think Umineko is playing with me because i have been a bit confused since i started the first episode.
Now i’m reading the third one that is turning a quite interesting, after the battle between Beatrice and Beatrice’s teacher. I really enjoying this well-writen story and of course the amazing ost of this visual novel.
I watched Higurashi anime before playing Umineko but i want to read the visual novel too.
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So recently, may of you know that there has been a lot going on with my side of the pond, but earlier I asked what VN would be good to play when you are feeling down and in need to repair things.
That was the wrong question to ask right from the start. It turns out that I should be doing what should be very fun, play something special, and enjoy it just for what it is and let that fun help me with everything else. I am going to start Little Busters in a few days to weeks and if it’s the best VN ever then so be it.
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If you need something fun to take out the stress then yes going with Little Busters or in fact any of the Key works will give you an emotional but definitively uplifting experience. I might also recommend The Fruit of Grisaia as a story with as much levity as it has heart.
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Haven’t seen it here, but if you are looking for something similar to Key Hoshizora no Memoria is great.
It’s comedy focused and a bit slow at times, but it’s romance moments are actually really great, specially in the true route and in Asuho’s (The brown haired girl) route.
It has an incredible soundtrack, and a fantastic ending. It’s only problems is that it’s cast of characters and the routes are very mediocre apart from a couple, but if you are willing to go through that to get the amazing true route it’s absolutely worth it.
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Finally finished Danganronpa V3, so all of the DR games essentially (I’m finally free from the fear of the spoilers). V3 is definitely my favorite of the 3 games by far to be honest; the characterization was extremely great with it being implemented into the main story much better than the past 2 games and the relationships between all the ultimates feel a lot more interconnected to the group as a whole. I loved all the new ultimates so damn much (besides Angie I hate her) with V3 also having my new favorite DR MC.
I’ve heard there was a split in the fanbase regarding the ending but I personally thought it was a beautiful thrill and a big reason as to why it’s my favorite of the games.
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In more bad news for the visual novel industry, long-time eroge company Mink (perhaps best known for Night Shift Nurses), which has existed since 1993, have announced they are ceasing operations. They claim that they “are beyond their time” (i.e. they haven’t been relevant in years) as their reason for closing shop. I’m not sure if all their brands are going away or just the main brand, but in any case, the eroge industry must be struggling hard when even veterans are shutting down.
Nothing of value was lost
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I recently finished Saku Saku: Love Blooms with the Cherry Blossoms. And I feel very conflicted about it. I said the same thing about Shuffle a while ago, but to an even greater extent than with that, this VN really could’ve been something great. All the necessary ingredients were there, and at times, you could kind of see that potential shining through. And when those times pass, it’s always really easy to see what they should’ve done differently. It leaves a bittersweet feeling, which I think it’s supposed to, but not in the right way. It has a slightly unfulfilling nuance to it, which dampens the effect it should’ve had on the reader.
The art and music were both really solid. Don’t have much else to say about them, except that the way the eyes in particular are drawn is fucking beautiful. 10/10.
The engine kinda sucks.
To be fair, part of what I disliked about it definitely stems from my post-modernistic views. A person with a more standard moral/value system would probably be more receptive to it, but I have a hard time liking character that presume to preside in judgement of others’ actions. It’s not like that happens more in this VN than any other given story, but the particular nuance I’m looking for usually isn’t acknowledged when it does happen, and I’m petty enough to let that bother me. Though admittedly, the few times when it is are pretty fucking sweet.
To anyone intending to read it, I’d recommend the route order Yuri>Mio>Konami>Ann>Tina. I’d honestly like to recommend Mio’s route first, since it has the least relevance to the overall plot, but it also happens to be the only route that’s actually bad, so if one read it first, I doubt they’d be particularly inclined to read the rest.
I’d probably have to give it about 8/10 overall, which fucking sucks, because it deserves better than that. It should’ve been easily 9/10 or higher. I’m probably being a bit harsh here because I still feel kinda let down, but once that passes I’ll probably rate it higher.
Now for the spoilery shit:
What they should’ve done differently and what they did right:
I wouldn’t have changed anything about Yuri’s route. It wasn’t perfect, or even the best route, but it was good enough that changing it would’ve been an unnecessary gamble. I loved the focus on the side characters and their interactions in this route, particularly between Hyberion (who’s just a great character overall) and Hanako. It’s probably also the route that best maintains the tone of the common route.
They honestly should’ve completely scrapped Mio’s route. The complication was an absolute no-no. It was so fucking ridiculous that I couldn’t sympathise with Mio at all for feeling that way or with Yuma for not slapping some sense into her. As for Mio’s character itself, I’d be able to put up with the constant crying if it weren’t for the fact that she fucking wails. If she sobbed instead, that would be fine, but I can’t stand the wailing. Had to rip my earphones out more than once. If they needed to give her a route, they should’ve done it more like Yuri’s route, where the focus was on the supporting cast more so than on the heroine. I would’ve given Miyu a much larger role, and probably given Yuri and Hanako a little more screen time too. And possibly introduce the supernatural element into it a bit too.
Konami’s route is difficult, and this is where my post-modernism causes me grief with the way the characters acted. I lost a lot of respect for Yuri in particular, because she just had a “it’s wrong because it’s wrong” attitude, which I honestly find kind of reprehensible. Aoi I could forgive, because she was against it for practical reasons - the fact that society at large would reject it and Konami and Yuma likely wouldn’t be able to find happiness because of that - rather than her personal close-mindedness. I would’ve liked to see more nuance in the positions of the cast, but if there had been such nuance, the route might not have had a complication. Because of that, I’m honestly not sure how this route could’ve been improved.
Ann’s route was great. I might have some little gripes with some of the things the characters did or said, but ultimately those were inconsequential.
Tina’s route was definitely the best, but it also had what was to me the most obvious flaw. Sou’s arc, which was amazing, and the highlight of the route - and indeed the entire game - was resolved kind of inconclusively. And I really wish that someone had taken the “it’s easy to throw stones” stance and sympathised with Sou a little more. I also wish someone (probably the same person) had told Yuma that he doesn’t really have the right to judge other people’s coping mechanisms (which is what the way Sou acted the day after Koharu’s death clearly was.) Ironically, this is a bit of a paradox, since judging other people’s coping mechanisms is itself a coping mechanism, but I at least wish someone had taken Yuma off his high-horse a bit. It’s particularly unfortunate because Ann/Elenora was in a perfect position to do this, so there’s really no excuse for why it didn’t happen. And it’s not like Yuma couldn’t have just considered these things himself. If, along with these changes, Sou’s arc had been resolved slightly more conclusively/decisively, it would’ve pushed the game over into “masterpiece” territory, in my opinion.
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UhHhHhHhHhHhHhHh:
What the fuck!?
This is not a drill.
In all seriousness, my reflex reaction to this is FUCKING HYPE, since I love the Da Capo series so much. But the ending of D.C.3 seemed pretty definitive to me. From a realistic standpoint, I can’t say I’m really looking forward to this. Largely because, to me anyway, Da Capo as a whole is the story of Sakura. You can’t remove Sakura from it and still call it Da Capo. At that point it becomes something else. And Sakura’s story is over. She finally got her happy ending. It only took about 55 or so years. After the last side episode of D.C.3, I would be pretty pissed off if they retracted that as the conclusion, taking away all the meaning it had.
I do have a theory about why they’re doing this, even though it seems so unnatural after the ending of D.C.3. I think people were expecting Dal Segno to be a successor to Da Capo, even though that’s never what it was meant to be, so a lot of fans ended up disappointed. So I think this is an attempt to appeal to their estranged base, by giving them an actual successor to the Da Capo series.
Ultimately, I’m super conflicted about it. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I honestly feel that I should be prepared to be disappointed.
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@Federico585
Sorry about replying so late, just got active here. I finished Danganronpa V3 myself right around this time myself! I must say however, it was good, but the ending was a bit strange made. I did understand what they were trying to say, but it’s a bit unfortunate. So I must disagree with you there. Else I am a big fan of the Danganronpa franchise 
I also didn’t like Angie… she was annoying xD Did you complete all achievements already?
@Ost
Sorry for replying half a year later. Just got active today. Thanks for sharing your post. I completely agree, and for anyone who should read this sometime, I’m reinforcing OP’s arguments. The Steins;Gate 0 VN was beautiful, and I also recommend reading it after Steins;Gate VN wholeheartedly! The 0 anime is a compressed version of the VN. So if one wants the whole picture, read the VN.
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Nah, I saw how the mind mind achievement was driving a friend crazy so didn’t bother. (And yeah Angie is my least favorite main character in the entire series). Although it’s cool if you didn’t like, since I honestly enjoyed how it was supposed to be more open ended an up for lots of interpretations.
Unrelated to the reply but started playing Umineko, currently halfway through episode 2. It’s pretty solid so far, I like a most of the characters so far and the music is excellent. Ironically at the moment Kanon is my favorite character and Shannon is my least.
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I started playing The House in Fata Morgana not too recently and Damn. The moment The Maid held my hand and led me back into the dark throes of the house’s history, I fell inlove. it’s been awhile since I’ve read something this cathartic and heart-crushing, this morbid, grand tragedy that touches all flaws and cracks with pointed truths yet still evokes empathy and kindness despite everything. It always manages to stun me. Easily a favorite VN, but then, I haven’t read a lot of VNs.
Also reading Umineko bit by bit. It’s fun rereading it again after so many years and finding details I missed out before. I see it so differently now; whilst before the mystery consumed me into frenzy theorizing, catboxes, and just generally enjoying the twists and characters (Had a huge crush on Battler back then too lol). Now, I see it as it is-- just a bunch of really flawed people attempting to express their feelings and failing miserably sighs
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The D.C.4 website is live! I posted the link a few replys above.
Much to everyone’s surprise, I’m sure, the Shirakawa family returns, for the fourth game running:
They’ve ticked one of the three S-boxes that make the Da Capo series what it is. Shirakawa down, Suginami and Sakura to go.
There seems to be some Alice in Wonderland theme going here, already made pretty obvious by this image here:
(And given that the person depicted is probably Sakura, that’s probably 2 S-boxes down.)
But there’s also this in the main heroine’s poorly-translated bio:
Given that, the story may not exactly be sequential to, or have an impact on, the grander narrative. If so that would be, in my opinion, a very positive sign for the quality of D.C.4. Probably my biggest concern about it was as I outlined in my previous post:
But if my speculation is correct, then this isn’t necessarily the case, which would, in a positive way, make all the difference in how I perceive D.C.4.
Also this:
Surprised no one’s posted anything about this here yet.
This has been a crazy month for VNs. First D.C.4, which makes no sense in and of itself (and Sakura Edition too), and now this comes out of nowhere too. It’s fucking insanity.
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Well I’ve been pretty silent from the forum due to various reasons, but in the meantime I’ve been playing quite a few VNs to cut off my backlog a bit. I even got myself a Surface Go so I can play modern VNs on the go now. I highly recommend it btw 
but I digress, I came here to talk about one VN I read recently which I absolutely enjoyed: Muv-Luv.
I am sure that anyone who has forayed into VNs has at least heard of this series. It is, after all, one of the highest rated VNs no matter where you ask (or, at least, Alternative is). I’ll try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible and thus try to keep it quick as well. So I figure it’s best to give a quick rundown of how I felt about each of the three games. So, let’s start.
Muv-Luv Extra:
I came into this series very well warned: The first game is hot trash. You will have to trudge through it but the payoff is worth it once you reach Alternative. Yada yada yada. And at first, I believed it! Seeing things as ridiculous as, say a character entirely dedicated to be a ripoff of Initial D(with a matching eurobeat BGM). I did realize early on that most of the absurdity spurred off from interactions with Meiya, so I finished off her route first and tried out the others. And after reading the other routes, I thought “hey, this isn’t as bad as everyone makes it out to be”. Sure, MLE isn’t anything groundbreaking, but it’s a halfway decent charge, with some of the routes having pretty good messages in them (shout outs to the class prez route).
Muv-Luv Unlimited:
Unlimited is what I would consider the prelude to the main story. It sets up the new plot really well, and gives you a whole new view of characters from the first game. It did what it needed to do really well. It introduced enough for the next game, left a lot of interesting questions, and still managed to have a conclusive ending. It even changed my views on Meiya who I absolutely hated in the first game (it also changed my views on Mikoto but we don’t talk about that). My only gripe is how all of the character endings were essentially the same thing just with different characters. Wasted a lot of time getting those, heh.
Muv-Luv Alternative:
And now we go to the grand story of it all, whose length overshadows the first two games combined. It’s really hard to describe just how grand a story this is, but I think the best word I can come for it is that it’s a struggle. MLA is a grand struggle of the world against itself and it’s adversary, and of our protagonists struggle against that world but, most importantly, against himself. Ever since the story begins, we are meant to question what it means to be determined, and what pushes us as human beings. Up to the end we question this, and what we must sacrifice for our aspirations. It’s something that, while taking place in an otherworldly setting, we can apply to our own hopes and dreams, and remind ourselves that we are human, and all those other humans who have achieved all that we dream of are human too, with their own motivations pushing them. And it reminds us not to forget the little things that make life worth living: The people we hold near and dear to us.
I came into this series having no idea what to expect, and I came out wiser, I feel. It has reminded me what to fight for in this short life we live, and has given me a newfound appreciation for all the characters involved in the series. The epilogue, which was just as ridiculous as the first game, was something I couldn’t get angry about; I could only feel happiness for the characters, that they are able to once again smile and crack stupid jokes.
Overall, Muv-Luv is a great experience and deserves its place among the top-rated VNs. 10/10 would recommend
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I’d argue I’m still very new to Visual Novels, as I’ve only played Steins Gate, Steins Gate 0, Clannad, Tomoyo After. However, I’m planning on getting some more Key VNs soon on Steam.
In saying that, does anyone here have any recommendations on other companies that I should be aware of, like Key? I have a good feeling I’m going to splurge on everything Key related on Steam, and I want to make sure I know of other companies I can check out.
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As a fellow Steins;Gate fan, I can recommend Chaos;Child - it doesn’t matter if you don’t read Chaos; Head first ( as I didn’t).
