Community The Visual Novel Council | All Choices Lead To Here

[skLaFarebear]

Same, I thought it was going to be a standard isekai/fantasy game. Happy to find out that it is an action title.

Regarding localization, well, you never know! I heard sekai games is losing money for releasing Baldr Sky, but they sell two games with the price of a single title. The translation cost of this title should not be as costly and they should have less difficulty to break even. If it is not picked up by any publisher, hopefully a fan translation will be done.

Yeah I'm still holding out hope it can happen one day, but I'm running with the assumption that it's not happening until it's out as a patch/on Steam/on a 3rd party shop and that's made it much easier to cope (RIP any hopes of Muramasa).

MangaGamer's last Black Monday sale, Dec. 2nd last year, had much better discounts, so it might be worth waiting for that instead.

There's some games on there that got a bigger discount than they did last year, specifically Sengoku Rance and Maggot Baits, but still probably better to wait because they might get bigger discounts come this Black Friday/Cyber Monday

 

[Exzyleph]

Sekai Project has announced that I Walk With Zombies 3 is coming this December, adding to the increasingly busy end-of-year release schedule:

Interestingly, it looks like the Steam release will be an "all-ages" version, unlike the previous two parts.

 

[MegaApple]

So help me out here.

I installed the 7th mod for the first Higurashi game on Steam.

Which sprites are the best for a good experience? OG are... not appealing, I like Manga Gamer's art, and the console art looks alike generic 2010s anime artstyle.

 

[Exzyleph]

MangaGamer has announced a limited physical edition of Sengoku Rance.
Looks pretty nice, if you can tolerate Rance:

So help me out here.

I installed the 7th mod for the first Higurashi game on Steam.

Which sprites are the best for a good experience? OG are... not appealing, I like Manga Gamer's art, and the console art looks alike generic 2010s anime artstyle.

It sounds like you've answered your own question. Just pick the the version you like the most, cause you'll be looking at it for a long time.

 

[skLaFarebear]

So help me out here.

I installed the 7th mod for the first Higurashi game on Steam.

Which sprites are the best for a good experience? OG are... not appealing, I like Manga Gamer's art, and the console art looks alike generic 2010s anime artstyle.

I preferred the console art the most of the 3, but I also read Higurashi back way before the MG release (so no voices in the version I read) so I might be a bit biased. Just choose whatever you like the most and avoid the unironic "it's not the true when they cry experience if ur not getting ham hands" crowd.

Speaking of Rance, I've been playing a decent amount of 01 and it's a very weird, but fascinating experience. I know it's technically a remake, but it's such a cool thing from a historical prespective considering it's from 1989, which would put it around the same era as games like the original Ys, DQ, and Zelda. It has a weird old charm to it with a fresh coat of paint that I can't really describe. It's a shame we probably aren't getting the 03 remake anytime soon (which I hear is a legitimately great game) as I'd love to play it all in chronological order and see how the series evolved over the decades.

 

[Cacher]

In terms of outlook and combat design, Nayuta is my favorite character in Yumina. Elegant, beautiful and absolutely ruthless. She gave me a hard time in battle even though I was well-prepared.

Battle Arts

Edit: Graduation route done. Going after Ai route next.

 

[Exzyleph]

Impressive work by the Committee of Zero:

 

[ZKenir]

 

[Exzyleph]

I didn't realize that JAST (BLUE) was publishing that.
It sounds interesting (VNDB), but I'll probably have to wait and see if it is something I can stomach, considering that it is by Nitro+Chiral

 

[Cacher]

Yumina keeps crashing to desktop in battlle. It has crashes before but not too frequent. Looks like my rig is too powerful for the game

 

[ZKenir]

 

[Exzyleph]

Excellent news!
Though timing wise maybe not the best date for yet another release I am interested in

According to the MG discord they are still waiting for Valve to review the game, so it may or may not get a Steam release.

 

[Exzyleph]

Fallstreak: Requiem for my Homeland and Jiangshi x Daoshi episode 3 are out now:


Note that the first two episodes of JxD are free and well worth reading in my opinion.


JAST also just added the two ANIPLEX.EXE titles to their store: Adabana Old Tales and ATRI -My Dear Moments-

Adabana Odd Tales

A visual novel brought to you by Liar-soft, the makers of "Gahkthun of the Golden Lightning" and "Kindred Spirits on the Roof."

jastusa.com

ATRI -My Dear Moments-

"As the world sank, I found you." In the near future, a sudden and unexplained sea rise has left much of human civilization underwater. In a little town slowly being enveloped by the ocean, an unforgettable summer is about to begin for a boy and a mysterious robot girl...

jastusa.com

These are also available on Steam, but Adabana Odd Tales is region locked in the EU on Steam.

Personally I'd highly recommend reading ATRI. I was mostly hyped for Adabana, due to the art, but ATRI ended up exceeding all my expectations and has been one of my favorite reads of 2020.

 

[ZKenir]

I find it interesting that Aniplex.exe partnerrd with JAST

 

[Cacher]

I did not follow new VNs for a long time, so I just found out Hakuchuumu no Aojashin was released already (saw its billboard in Akiba back in Tokyo), and apparently it is one of the best rated title in 2020. The premise is very intriguing indeed, and people said the music and songs (it has four opening!) are all fantastic.

To avoid spoiler, I have only watched the teaser trailer. Already in love with this song いつかの白昼夢.

 

[Knurek]

Jim_Cacher http://pc.joshw.info/h/Hakuchuumu no Aojashin (2020-09-25)(Laplacian)[PC].7z
(requires VGMStream if you want the BGMs to loop)

 

[Cacher]

Jim_Cacher http://pc.joshw.info/h/Hakuchuumu no Aojashin (2020-09-25)(Laplacian)[PC].7z
(requires VGMStream if you want the BGMs to loop)

Thanks! Look forward to the OST release.

 

[skLaFarebear]

Kara no Shoujo 2 still not on sale. None of the Rance games on sale either.

Guess I'll pick up Totono and Cho Dengeki Stryker and call it a sale for VNs

 

[Exzyleph]

Some good news:

 

[ZKenir]

 

[Cacher]

I have completed Komachi route of this game. I would say the best description of it is "half-baked" (even though people said Komachi route is the relatively "complete" route among all four routes). While I think it has good premise, characters and world building, the story progression and the romance is... well, not good at all. The final fight is not satisfying and it ends with a cliffhanger. Honestly, the game was the biggest disappointment to me last year and I lost interest in it after completing Komachi route.

The developer, DiGination, has already stated that a sequel is in the works. So, if you are looking for a complete experience, do wait for the sequel before jumping in. I will return to it though as it still has potential to develop into something great.

 

[Exzyleph]

Note that if you wish to buy Meteor World Actor, then you can save $5 on top of the current discount and get the game for just $15. To do this, just buy the game via "Johren points", since you can currently get the first $10 worth of points for $5.

I also happened to have signed up for a giveaway they did early on, which netted me $10 worth of credit. And for $5 I am willing to give it a shot, even taking into account Jim_Cacher's less than stellar impressions.

However, that led to me finding out that you cannot remove your CC details after you've made a purchase on Johren, so that's fun. Thankfully their payment processor requires 2FA via your card issuer, so it's not a huge issue, but I'm rather annoyed that I have to go through support to get my payment details unlinked from my account. I don't even keep those saved on Steam.

 

[Cacher]

[UWSL]for $5 I am willing to give it a shot, even taking into account Jim_Cacher's less than stellar impressions.[/UWSL]

I would say it is definitely worth more than $5. It excels in many places but lacking in the story progression and not impactful in some areas. Main reason why I was so disappointed in the game is that it is written by one of my favorite VN writer, Kinugasa Shougo, and I was super hyped towards the game pre-release. Heck, I even wrote a long post in the VN OT back on Era.

Spoiler warning for the first few hours of the game:

Visual Novel Community Thread: No Auto Read Required

Hmm, interesting tweet. Although he said nothing is confirmed in the next tweet, I think it is pretty clear that 04 is on his mind. Btw, hanny_king is a fun id, haha.

www.resetera.com

To be fair, it is not the first time that Kinugasa Shougo left a game with cliffhanger ending. He did it in Akatsuki no Goei and many people has love-hate relationship towards this man. But his writing has his own charm. I was like "he should have learnt this time, right?" before MWA came out, and nope, I was wrong.

 

[Exzyleph]

Fruitbat Factory just announced MAMIYA - A Shared Illusion of the World's End:





Fruitbat doesn't release the highest profile titles, but so far I've enjoyed every single one of their titles that I've read and this also looks right up my alley.

Apparently it was also one of the VNs that the late Conjueror worked on translating.

 

[Exzyleph]

The last VN book club of the year is up and this time it is for Raging Loop, a time-loop murder mystery VN:



Unfortunately the game is not currently discounted on Steam, but it is 35% off on the Nintendo eShop (link in thread).


For personal reasons this will be the last book club in the next few months (not sure how long), but in the mean time please let know if there is anything you'd like to read in 2021.

 

[Cacher]

The Spirit of Eternity Sword 3 teaser

Can't believe they are dedicated to make the third entry after all these years. Bravo!

 

[Exzyleph]

I just noticed that Misshitsu no Sacrifice / Abyss Of The Sacrifice got a Steam page sometime last month. It is also being released on the Switch.



I don't really know anything about it to be honest, but the premise sounds interesting, it got good ratings on VNDB, and I like room-escape games like 999.
The official website lists the release date as the 17th.

 

[Knurek]

I just noticed that Misshitsu no Sacrifice / Abyss Of The Sacrifice got a Steam page sometime last month. It is also being released on the Switch.



I don't really know anything about it to be honest, but the premise sounds interesting, it got good ratings on VNDB, and I like room-escape games like 999.
The official website lists the release date as the 17th.

It's a port of a cheapo PSP release, don't think it gained any tracktion back then.
We'll see...

 

[sanhora]

Kara no Shoujo 2 still not on sale. None of the Rance games on sale either.

Pretty sure this is historical low or at least close it. Good time to pick it up in any case. Also 01+02 is 15% and Sengoku 20% off.

 

[skLaFarebear]

Pretty sure this is historical low or at least close it. Good time to pick it up in any case. Also 01+02 is 15% and Sengoku 20% off.

Saw the sale about an hour ago, but thank you for the heads up anyway friend. Glad I took a few weeks off later this month to start working on my ever growing backlog. Slowly working my way through Rance 02 and Dies Irae atm, but I'm very much looking forward to digging into KnS2 soon.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Looking to play Chaos Child soon, do I need to play Chaos Head first, or will I be ok without? It isn't on Steam after all hence the question.

Similarly, do I need to have played Chaos Head/Child before Robotics Notes?

 

[Knurek]

You don't need C;H to enjoy C;C, but it helps at points. Think Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
Take note though that C;H is a worse game and isn't available officially (yet)..

 

[Exzyleph]

RIP wallet

 

[Exzyleph]

JAST sneaking in a last minute release:

 

[Exzyleph]

Looks like we'll be getting news about Utawarerumono on PC soon.
Most likely this relates to the first entry in the series, Prelude to the Fallen, which has yet to be released on PC



Also, Sekai Project has now added English to Amairo Chocolate.
The initial release was Japanese/Chinese only, due to the English translation not being ready at the time

 

[Exzyleph]

A new VN publisher just announced their first title:


It's interesting that they are starting with a free title, which will apparently be pay-what-you-want.

 

[Exzyleph]

Tsukihime remake Summer, 2021?!

 

[Myradeer]

Yeah must be holiday for Type Moon fans

 

[AHA-Lambda]

I'm at Chapter 5 now, and gosh Chaos;Head is dragging...
I don't recall Stein's Gate or SG0 being this slow

 

[ZKenir]

 

[Knurek]

What's Early 2021 in JAST time, 2023?

 

[ZKenir]

2023?

probably

 

[Cacher]

Started playing Senkou no Clarias demo. I haven't played any Baldr games before so can't comment much on the combat. It supports controller natively and the controls feel weighty. Going to continue playing later the day.

 

[Exzyleph]

The first entry in the Underwater Ray Romano trilogy is finally coming to Steam:



I played the fan TL a while back and it is a damn good VN with some simple tactical gameplay that is supposedly greatly improved in this remake.

 

[skLaFarebear]

The first entry in the Underwater Ray Romano trilogy is finally coming to Steam:



I played the fan TL a while back and it is a damn good VN with some simple tactical gameplay that is supposedly greatly improved in this remake.

Ryza 2, Muv-Luv TDA(?), and Uta Prelude all in the same week, guess I know where my stimmy money is going.

The Steam screenshots being 720p is unfortunate though, since it's looking like this will be of the same quality as the Mask of Deception/Truth ports. Which means no bugs/issues with good m/kb support but 720p/30fps locked [UWSL][/UWSL]

Hopefully when Aquaplus moves off the Vita/PS3 engine with future games, it'll mean that their PC ports won't be as extremely disappointing as they are.

DMM Games also notes that Prelude to the Fallen for PC will contain a re-polished version of the translation used previously in the console versions. Additionally, the two games already on PC will be receiving a simultaneous update to include a new auto-save functionality, along with some minor improvements and fixes.

This is pretty awesome though, glad to see that DMM/Shiravune is making improvements where they can, even if it's not in the port quality itself.

 

[Exzyleph]

The (probably) next release from NekoNyan got a store page (vndb):

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Ok, I'm at chapter 9 of Chaos Head now, and I believe I'm nearing the end at this point. I've not finished it yet so impressions with that in mind, but coming from Stein's Gate to this I am frustrated and confused as all heck.
It's got a pretty slow start but I can forgive that, many great VNs have this issue.

What has irked me is that it's just outright confusing to the point that I struggle at times to really grasp onto any core plot point to drive the story. I feel like I need to keep notes of all the plot strands at this point.
Now it's clear that the game is meant to be confusing given its themes, and certainly its tense atmosphere is great, but by the half way point of Steins Gate there is a clear motivation and goal to drive the story; here its largely the same as it was at the very beginning of the story.

With how little is seemingly left I struggle to expect that it will all be tied up nicely by the end (I feel like I'm going to need to deep dive a wiki tbh) but even if it does that has been a frustrating read.
I really hope that Chaos Child is better than this.

EDIT: oh how could I forgot to mention, the main character is such an arsehole, its really hard to empathise with him. It's clear what's being aimed for here as the socially awkward otaku type but he has little to no growth and has remained irritating throughout. Okabe in Stein's Gate started irritating but you definitely warmed to him in time.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

Forgot to post here too, sorry.

Sul Matul has a Free-To-Play VN coming out on Feb 5th.

Ascension: Transition and Silver by SulMatul

A transgender visual novel, loosely based on Tarkovsky's STALKER

sulmatul.itch.io

Sul Matul Youtube Channel

Sul Matul has a good knowledge of the Pathologic games and has some good critiques and playthroughs of the series. Well worth checking the videos out.

 

[Exzyleph]

For anyone who hasn't already seen, Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen is out on Steam:



I played the OG version early last year and I would strongly recommend picking up the remake.
There's also an MC thread about it here.


Sekai Project also recently announced Hana's Campus Life, which is an interesting looking Korean visual novel:



And NekoNyan added another couple of secret projects on their discord, meaning that they are now working on five different unannounced titles.
Maybe we'll get a name or two next Friday, when they do their monthly updates.

 

[Exzyleph]

Steiner, who translated Dies Irae, Baldr Sky, Raging Loop and much more, took part in a stream on the JTNYC twitch channel:

Tackling Translation: Media Localization Across Mediums​

As the title indicates this dealt with more than just VNs and it is probably of interest to anyone consuming translated Japanese media.