I had thought up an epic speech I was going to post when the game gets announced but it’s been so long ago, I’ve completely forgotten it xD
So for now, I’ll just make do with a HELL YEAH! 
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The constant silence from VisualArts and Fruitbat Factory had me worried this was gonna come out at the last possible moment for Autumn 2017 so I’m overjoyed it’s only a little over a month away. I played through EX recently and, as I can’t read Japanese, could only infer some of the new stuff. I’m most eager to see the expanded ending to Kud’s route and whatever that new 3rd dialogue choice is. I’m also impressed it’s only 35 bucks. I’d have easily dropped 50 on it like Clannad.
I’ve been waiting for so long for this that I don’t even know what to say. “Finally” sounds like something I would of said in 2015… I know this is really going to come out on the said date, but my brain is like, 'uh huh sure it is." due to the fact that I have felt it has been, “coming soon to English” since 2009 when I first started waiting.
Honestly they could of made it 100 bucks and I wouldn’t of even flinched at this point… I have been waiting too long… I feel like my whole key fandom was waiting for this day to come…I mean this game has been my most anticipated game since 2010…
Honestly I am so indifferent to little busters news that I just want the damn game to come out and it will soon!!!
It is probably going to give me that strange feeling that mario 64 and mario 64 ds gave off, a strange mix between nostalgia and new. I haven’t played common since 2009…
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I completely understand the feeling. For longtime Key fans like us, official localizations like this come too late. It’s been over 10 years since LB first released, and now it’s finally coming to our western market. The younger, newer fans of visual novels will get a completely different feeling from it. To them, the experience will be completely new and unknown.
But the fact that these great VNs are being localized now is a blessing. Still, I can’t help but feel a bit old now. When I first played LB using the fan translation (which was still exceptionally good) I was the same age as Riki. That’s not stopping me from enjoying the game to the fullest once it is released.
Same goes for the inevitable Rewrite+ release once that happens.
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And the much, much older fans too!
I’m really excited to hear we finally get to see Little Busters finally get released on Steam!!! It’s been a long time coming but I’m glad the team took the time necessary to get the job done. I’m surprised it’s $35 though compared to CLANNAD which was $50 and I can’t complain about that. It depends if there might be a discount price or something. It’s been a while since I played the original VN so it’d be nice to see how things have changed plus I’ll be able to read the EX routes. Yeah!
Anyway, I’m definitely looking forward to it soon! 
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No one seems to have told Steam yet!
http://store.steampowered.com/search/?sort_by=Name_ASC&term=little&filter=comingsoon&page=2
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Yeah they have! It was in the old Greenlight system.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=913946529
A full steam page will probably be soon though.
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I really cannot express how happy and excited I am for the English release, not just for myself getting to play my favourite game of all time again, but seeing others experience it for the first time, being able to perhaps introduce it to people and let it gain a wider audience is what I look forward to most. However at the same time I worry some people who may have never played a Key game, or a visual novel for that matter, may only play a bit of it and then stop. I want newcomers to experience it properly by playing the whole thing, I worry if people are unsure of what to expect they will only play a route or two and then quit, thinking of it as a mediocre experience but purely because they did not play the whole game and therefore did not understand it properly. Maybe it is a silly thing to think about, but I do worry about it a little.
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Well that’s an inherent issue with the work, and the visual novel medium to a large extent. If someone wants to quit after only a couple of days, you can’t tell them “It gets better in 20 hours.”
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That’s true, but perhaps that also means it narrows the audience down a little bit to people who are more patient, even amongst any new players. I just hope may people do get to play the whole thing.
Visual Novels are still in the “catching on” process in the West. But if any company can make VNs popular here, it’d be Key.
Granted, I don’t really know many other VN companies with officially localized releases, the only one I can remember right off is Frontwing. 
Still, I feel that with proper advertising, LB could be even more popular than Clannad.
It’s a given that people like us who have played using the old English patch will buy it, so the main marketing target will be those who haven’t played it yet.
I just hope people won’t think “there’s an anime of it I can watch for free, so why should I spend money and 50+ hours on a visual novel?” Because as we know, there’s not much point in comparing the two.
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Such is the fate of source material for popular films.
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Honestly steam is strange, there are so many people who buy a game and never even play it lol. All we can really do is hype it up as much as we can, keep steam forums active even if it is idle chatter, spread the word about kaza and its related events. Drown those negative assholes with praise about the game. No need to worry just express your happiness and hope it carries over to the other people. Little busters had a very good run this is like a bonus round. This is just key giving us gaijins a chance to show them we like their stuff too.
Everyone right now is fumbling around vns not really knowing what type of vn fan they are. or if they are one at all. Even I feel overwhelmed by all the vns coming out. Most people don’t even know about vndb. you gotta let them know the entire vn comunity thinks LB! is one of the best vns ever made. The people who don’t play through it all simply might just be trying to branch into vns but it might not be for them. Honestly I think little busters has a much better early game than clannad imo so I think that will help.
But damn all I can say is I’ve waited around 8 years so I am hyped as hell.
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I’d say several companies have already done so, and Key is very unlikely to be one of those companies. Stuff like Danganronpa and Zero Escape have gameplay. Princess Evangile and the Sakura Games have fanservice. The big indie VNs have incredibly low prices. Litbus is a lesser in all three popular aspects; not enough gameplay, not enough fanservice, and not a low enough price. CLANNAD wasn’t even close to being a best seller, and though Litbus has a better shot at success purely from a visual standpoint, I doubt it’ll go further than Steins;Gate or maybe even planetarian. If the guaranteed market for those titles is low, Litbus isn’t looking hot.
That’s just Visual Novels in a nutshell though. They’re hard to get into, and that’s a big reason for why it gained a following in the west at all.
Maybe Key fans think so, but saying that the entirety of the VN “community” does is a stretch. I’m all for getting Key stuff to the west, but I’m not gonna lie for it.
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It’s still ranked No. 16 on VNDB, that’s certainly ‘one of the best VNs ever’ according to the international community.
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Well my point is there is a big disconnect from vndb and steam. Most steam users that buy vns are probably people who haven’t played many vns. Low price is a big factor.
I mean fuck… dream daddy…? 217k copies wtf…the truth is we have a surge of newbies that cause serve narutard like market. The mass don’t take vns seriously and the average vn player on steam has pretty much no idea what is quality and what is popular and bad. The rest are just memers who waste there money to be funny.
Not everyone is looking for some 1 off meme bird game, but it is hard to find good ones without any knowledge.
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Still, solving this problem is no easy task with the internet how it is. Few mainstream outlets want to acknowledge visual novels beyond being a jokey pasttime.
Dream Daddy was such a success because 1. it had Game Grumps behind it and 2. because the content is very memeable.
Many famous Japanese VNs are getting released on Steam to very lukewarm reception, sadly. It’s the English language stuff that tends to cause more of a splash lately.
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I’d argue that since over half of the people who voted (noting they had to have bothered to mark it as read and had to vote on it, which naturally increases ratings for longer VNs) gave it an 8/10 or below, it’s not agreed upon by everyone as one of the best.
coughactualhighqualityVisualNovelcough
You need a gimmick to be noticed. Having standard VN art, a long play duration, an expensive sale price and no fanservice is a massive obstacle for Little Busters. It’s clear that the guaranteed market of those who’d buy a long VN for a hefty pricetag is very small. No one wants to spend $34.99 to have a go at a hard to breach genre that is impossible to get a feel for before the refund timer runs out.
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You are right about one thing little busters would make more money if it was split up into a bunch of vols for 3 times the price like what so many others are doing. The fact that you are telling me a long vn is bad seems very illogical. People just under value length. The truth is the “insta buy” mentality of the two markets are very different. All you gotta do is add some stupid memes, what if we just add a bunch of meme items to the battle system hue hue this is so funny masato got a fidget spinner rolls eyes but at the same time that crap would kill the game as we know it. It boils down to different markets not everyone wants vns to be the next goat simulator type game… The fact is there are people just looking for the next meme and others who really want your “standard long” japanese vns. If you think the sakura series is what all vns should be because it is popular then you probably think all anime should be naruto. To put it bluntly the sakura series is like naruto, mabye it is popular but for the most part people will think it is lacking and want to find better stuff. The people who have been in the market for a long time are not going to be impressed with it.
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