Community The Visual Novel Council | All Choices Lead To Here

[Deleted member 113]

Is anyone familiar with this game:

It was recently updated to include an English language option.

It's billed as a murder mystery, and it look pretty good.

 

[Li Kao]

I'm really glad you liked it and the code didn't go to waste!

I only wish the JP audio was included instead of a separate purchase. >_<

Did they ever fix the, memory is hazy, aspect ratio ?
I remember the original US release butchered in some way.

 

[Kvik]

Is anyone familiar with this game:

I'm not familiar with it, sorry. It does look good, though. If you like detective stories, I heard Root Letter is pretty good. There's also an enhanced version coming soon later this year.


And obviously, Kara no Shoujo.

 

[Deleted member 113]

I'm not familiar with it, sorry. It does look good, though. If you like detective stories, I heard Root Letter is pretty good. There's also an enhanced version coming soon later this year.


And obviously, Kara no Shoujo.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Root Letter looks great.
I'll pick it up in the future.

The name sounds familiar, is it part of a series?

As for Kara no Shojo, it's also on my wishlist.
I played the demo a few years ago, and enjoyed what I played.

 

[Kvik]

The name sounds familiar, is it part of a series?

Supposedly, it's the first entry from the Kadokawa Game Mystery series. Root Letter: Last Answer is the enhanced edition, while Root Letter 2 is the sequel.

 

[beep boop]

Fruit of Grisaia and the other games in the series are on sale. Are these worth playing? Reviews are fairly positive.

 

[Myradeer]

I personally contend that Root Letter is mediocre at best.

 

[Exzyleph]

I would highly recommend at least picking up Fruit of Grisaia and seeing if you enjoy that.

Fruit is a comedy/drama/tragedy visual novel which can be roughly summarized as secret-agent-man (not a spoiler) playing therapist for a cast of troubled girls, with a lot of loosely connected comedy in the common route and a lot of drama and tragedy in each of the character routes. Personally I really enjoyed the common route and found the character routes to be very impactful, so much so that Fruit is one of my highest rated reads. It does have some significant issues, such as the fact that the protagonist basically embodies the Navy Seal copy-pasta, the fact that one route inexplicably veers into an odd direction (with paranormal elements), and the fact that the common route is a lot of slice-of-life comedy (it is about as long as any of the character routes).

The sequel, Labyrinth of Grisaia, details Yuuji's past in the form of extended flash-backs and felt like a significant step down from Fruit, mainly because of my being much less interested in Yuuji as a character and because very little happens outside of the flashbacks. It does contain after-stories for each of the character routes in Fruit, all of which were very enjoyable, as well as a large number of disconnected sketches of varying quality. I have yet to read Eden, but the cheaper VNs (Leisure, Afterglow, Melody) are rather forgettable bonus-stories interspersed between the main entries.

There are also two spin-offs, namely Phantom Trigger, a series set in the same universe but following a completely different cast of characters (not on sale), and Idol Magical Girl Chiru Chiru Michiru, a two-part VN that originally started out as an Aprils fools' joke, in which Michiru is re-imagined as a magical girl (currently 50% off).

The games are all extremely well made from a purely technical stand-point and the translations are really good.

Finally, note that the Steam versions are all "all ages", with fade-to-blacks where the original stories had H-scenes and the bonus H-scenes (Professor Dave's Masturbation Corner) have been cut entirely. There's still a lot of lewd humor and sexual innuendo though. There are also no patches, as the Steam versions are based on a separates (Vita?) versions that added additional/alternative CGs instead of the H-scenes, and no combined version exist.

 

[beep boop]

I would highly recommend at least picking up Fruit of Grisaia and seeing if you enjoy that.

Fruit is a comedy/drama/tragedy visual novel which can be roughly summarized as secret-agent-man (not a spoiler) playing therapist for a cast of troubled girls, with a lot of loosely connected comedy in the common route and a lot of drama and tragedy in each of the character routes. Personally I really enjoyed the common route and found the character routes to be very impactful, so much so that Fruit is one of my highest rated reads. It does have some significant issues, such as the fact that the protagonist basically embodies the Navy Seal copy-pasta, the fact that one route inexplicably veers into an odd direction (with paranormal elements), and the fact that the common route is a lot of slice-of-life comedy (it is about as long as any of the character routes).

The sequel, Labyrinth of Grisaia, details Yuuji's past in the form of extended flash-backs and felt like a significant step down from Fruit, mainly because of my being much less interested in Yuuji as a character and because very little happens outside of the flashbacks. It does contain after-stories for each of the character routes in Fruit, all of which were very enjoyable, as well as a large number of disconnected sketches of varying quality. I have yet to read Eden, but the cheaper VNs (Leisure, Afterglow, Melody) are rather forgettable bonus-stories interspersed between the main entries.

There are also two spin-offs, namely Phantom Trigger, a series set in the same universe but following a completely different cast of characters (not on sale), and Idol Magical Girl Chiru Chiru Michiru, a two-part VN that originally started out as an Aprils fools' joke, in which Michiru is re-imagined as a magical girl (currently 50% off).

The games are all extremely well made from a purely technical stand-point and the translations are really good.

Finally, note that the Steam versions are all "all ages", with fade-to-blacks where the original stories had H-scenes and the bonus H-scenes (Professor Dave's Masturbation Corner) have been cut entirely. There's still a lot of lewd humor and sexual innuendo though. There are also no patches, as the Steam versions are based on a separates (Vita?) versions that added additional/alternative CGs instead of the H-scenes, and no combined version exist.

Wow, thanks for the elaborate description! Sounds like I should at least consider Fruits, but I'll have to sample parts of it on YT since slice of life stuff seems to be pretty hit or miss for me. That's good to know in advance.

 

[ZKenir]

As Doddler (works for various companies on VN, including MG, Sol Press, JAST and Sekai) it seems that Fruitbat Factory is now involved in the translalation of Noraneko after the initial impressions of bad translation quality

 

[ZKenir]

 

[Knurek]

minor Yu-No spoiler

Incest

fans rejoice

 

[Ganado]

Just finished the main story of 428 Shibuya Scramble. Good shit.

 

[「Echo」]

I am surprised YUNO is coming West, but certainly won't complain about a Steam release.

I wish there was an art toggle, I much prefer the PC-98 look... I wonder if it's too hopeful that somebody could mod it...

 

[「Echo」]

ded thread.

3 VN's were announced by Sekai Project at ACEN but I didn't catch whether they'll be sold on Steam or not? Actually, does Sekai Project sell their games anywhere but Steam?

 

[Kvik]

Kind of busy reading Muv-Luv, that's my excuse.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

On Stein's Gate Linear Bounded Phenogram, are there multiple endings to achieve or is it a strictly linear progression of the story?

 

[Knurek]

On Stein's Gate Linear Bounded Phenogram, are there multiple endings to achieve or is it a strictly linear progression of the story?

Each chapter is self-contained, there's no overarching narrative.

 

[Exzyleph]

ded thread.

3 VN's were announced by Sekai Project at ACEN but I didn't catch whether they'll be sold on Steam or not? Actually, does Sekai Project sell their games anywhere but Steam?

They also sell most of their games via Denpasoft, which is their adult brand, as well as a small number of games on other stores (JAST USA, Discord, Itch.io)

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Each chapter is self-contained, there's no overarching narrative.

And I assume each chapter has only one ending?

 

[Knurek]

And I assume each chapter has only one ending?

Yeah, it's just a collection of short stories, each focusing on different S;G character (there might be two for Okabe, AFAIR).

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Cool thanks

 

[ZKenir]

 

[Exzyleph]

Cool. I've been looking forward to that VN, so hopefully this means the English release isn't far away.

 

[Ascheroth]

So after finishing Tokyo Dark (which I'm not sure I'd count as a classic VN), the unplayed VNs in my library are as follows:

• A Kiss For The Petals - Remembering How We Met
• Ame no Marginal -Rain Marginal-
• CLANNAD
• fault - milestone one
• fault - milestone two side:above
• Highway Blossoms
• Memory's Dogma CODE:01

I'm curious about the fault - milestone games, but to my knowledge the story is still ongoing, so I dunno.
Maybe I'll just go right to CLANNAD, but after Umineko I'm not sure I want to jump into another long one right away.
Decisions, decisions.
All I know, is that I need to grab another one or two during the summer sale. Can't have my stock running empty

---

Actually, it looks like Steam has chosen for me already

 

[Knurek]

So after finishing Tokyo Dark (which I'm not sure I'd count as a classic VN), the unplayed VNs in my library are as follows:

• A Kiss For The Petals - Remembering How We Met
• Ame no Marginal -Rain Marginal-
• CLANNAD
• fault - milestone one
• fault - milestone two side:above
• Highway Blossoms
• Memory's Dogma CODE:01

I'm curious about the fault - milestone games, but to my knowledge the story is still ongoing, so I dunno.
Maybe I'll just go right to CLANNAD, but after Umineko I'm not sure I want to jump into another long one right away.
Decisions, decisions.
All I know, is that I need to grab another one or two during the summer sale. Can't have my stock running empty

---

Actually, it looks like Steam has chosen for me already

Good luck:

 

[Exzyleph]

So after finishing Tokyo Dark (which I'm not sure I'd count as a classic VN), the unplayed VNs in my library are as follows:

• A Kiss For The Petals - Remembering How We Met
• Ame no Marginal -Rain Marginal-
• CLANNAD
• fault - milestone one
• fault - milestone two side:above
• Highway Blossoms
• Memory's Dogma CODE:01

I'm curious about the fault - milestone games, but to my knowledge the story is still ongoing, so I dunno.
Maybe I'll just go right to CLANNAD, but after Umineko I'm not sure I want to jump into another long one right away.
Decisions, decisions.
All I know, is that I need to grab another one or two during the summer sale. Can't have my stock running empty

---

Actually, it looks like Steam has chosen for me already

I'd recommend that you skip 'Remembering How We Met', unless/until you've played the other 'A Kiss For The Petals' involving those characters. It's is a prequel that only describes how two characters met in the first place, prior to whatever romance happened in the other games, and it felt pretty pointless on its own. Everything else on your list is also in my backlog

 

[Myradeer]

Is anyone familiar with this game:

It was recently updated to include an English language option.

It's billed as a murder mystery, and it look pretty good.

I took a plunge and played for 15 minutes. Immediate impression is that English translation is miserable as I expected (I mean, having your Steam announcement about English translation be written in broken English does not invite buyer confidence). Only good thing I can say about it is that at least it's not incomprehensible mess.

 

[Deleted member 113]

I took a plunge and played for 15 minutes. Immediate impression is that English translation is miserable as I expected (I mean, having your Steam announcement about English translation be written in broken English does not invite buyer confidence). Only good thing I can say about it is that at least it's not incomprehensible mess.

Thanks for your feedback.

I took the plunge myself (it was cheap as hell), hopefully the translation will be improved before I play it.

 

[Exzyleph]

Looks like the Umineko Gold campaign is still in the works, despite the never-ending delays.
I am starting to wonder if these delays have something to do with the upcoming release of Ciconia no Naku Koro ni.

Hello Kieran! Thanks for checking in, we appreciate your continued interest in the project.

While we are still in consistent contact with 07th Expansion and Witch Hunt about #UminekoGold, we are under direct orders to keep a tight lid on public updates re: the Kickstarter. (1/3)

Everyone at Catbox understands and deeply regrets how detrimental all this waiting is to the campaign's momentum, and we want fans to know that we would never have remained silent for this long if it wasn't absolutely necessary for the sake of our project's health. (2/3)

But in any case, please rest assured that we will be candid with you about the status of the Kickstarter as soon as we possibly can, and reaching that point is the top priority of absolutely everyone involved, at every level of this collaboration. (3/3)

Source

 

[Myradeer]

More in-detailed review after <2 hr playthrough, which I assume is around half-way point for the story.

Unlike what Steam introduction seems to suggest, One-way Ticket is not a murder mystery. Who kills who, and how one dies is very clearly shown. The game's choices instead seem to revolve around trying to survive in lawless, volatile situation from what little I managed to play; the game clearly takes inspiration from Lurongyu 2682 incident where onboard mutiny went horribly wrong with many losses of life.

Let's immediately get bad over with. Translation is awful as I formerly mentioned. The game's features are extremely barebone. The game does NOT have a skip function or instant-text option. So if you want to play through a scene again, you'll have to spend your precious time clicking a lot to push through molasses-slow text. "Fortunately" the game's plot seem to be mostly linear, but I assume lack of aforementioned functionality will be an annoynace to achievement hunters.

I found plot to be subpar. The pacing and utilization of visual elements (what distinguishes VN from well-written novel) feels off as well, but this is my personal opinion. Do take my impressions with grain of salt because I chose to refund the game before delving deeper into "crisis" segment of the plot.

Not Recommended

 

[Chudah]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Steins;Gate. It's my favorite time travel story of any medium/genre hands down.


I may end up picking up Elite during the summer sale just because I love the story so much, why not?

 

[「Echo」]

I ended up having to get elite just for LBP, since I missed it while it was free.

 

[Kvik]

I've finished with all the main routes of Muv-Luv Extra over the weekend.

It was funny and enjoyable at times, but on the other hand, I find Takeru just wasn't a likable protagonist at the start. Maybe it's about how he treated Sumika (Although it's being played as slapstick most of the times), or how he was trying to defuse an altercation while on a date with Chizuru. He did show growth in both Chizuru and Tama's route though. I consider these two as my favourite routes.

Perhaps because I find the interactions between Takeru and Chizuru feels natural and the conflict feels real enough that I know it can happen in the real world. Kind of like two friends learning about one another, without the history and nostalgia associated with Sumika, for example. Not to say that Sumika's route isn't the most romantic though. Takeru and Tama's interactions also quite enjoyable. Takeru exhibiting a desire for self-improvement in her route is also one of the highlights. Meika's route is possibly the most dramatic out of the rest. It's OK I guess. I'm not a big fan of it, as much as I love Meika's disposition, her outlandish wealth and its resulting comedy.

Finally, Ayamine's route is kind of a weird one for me. Maybe it's because Ayamine's difficult personality (as endearing as it was), but so little has changed for her and Takeru at the end, compared with Tama or Chizuru, for instance. It's a mellow one if I want to put a word on it.

I won't jump into Unlimited Alternative right away, but I definitely like it well enough to keep playing the other games.

 

[Knurek]

I won't jump into Unlimited Alternative right away, but I definitely like it well enough to keep playing the other games.

For the love of everything that is holy JUMP into Unlimited right away.

 

[Exzyleph]

I've finished with all the main routes of Muv-Luv Extra over the weekend.

[...]

You hit on a lot of good points. Extra is quite a mixed bag, and I was personally ready to be done with it by the time I finished the first couple of routes. But if you enjoyed the routes in which Takeru grew as a character, then I think that you'll find a lot to enjoy in the next entries. Personal growth plays a big part in both of those and not just for the protagonist.

I'll also second Knurek's plea to jump straight into Unlimited.

 

[RionaaM]

Now that they're releasing the English translation of the Fata Morgana Reincarnation story on PS4 and Vita, I wonder if they'll add it to the PC release of Requiem. I would be fine with having to buy it as additional DLC, even if the ideal scenario would be a free update.

 

[Chudah]

Gonna be honest, people have gushed so much over The House of Fata Morgana it's gone into the "too hyped to touch" territory for me. Didn't help that I've had several friends say that all other VNs have been ruined for them after reading it. But I think the worst is one friend who compares EVERY single VN she reads to it, and has trashed on some really great stories because they don't make her feel what Fata Morgana did. ::sigh:: So yeah, despite having the game in my library and at one time being really interested in it, I just can't bring myself to load it up to read. It's kinda like how I don't think I'll ever be able to play Undertale despite it clearly being a great game. I think sometimes zealotry in praise can actually hurt things.

 

[Exzyleph]

Gonna be honest, people have gushed so much over The House of Fata Morgana it's gone into the "too hyped to touch" territory for me. Didn't help that I've had several friends say that all other VNs have been ruined for them after reading it. But I think the worst is one friend who compares EVERY single VN she reads to it, and has trashed on some really great stories because they don't make her feel what Fata Morgana did. ::sigh:: So yeah, despite having the game in my library and at one time being really interested in it, I just can't bring myself to load it up to read. It's kinda like how I don't think I'll ever be able to play Undertale despite it clearly being a great game. I think sometimes zealotry in praise can actually hurt things.

I've had the same reaction to excessive hype for a number of games, including Undertale. But it is honestly a pretty dumb reason for skipping out on something and I usually end up regretting putting off those games, once I finally get around to playing them. We'd be better off just getting over ourselves and giving those games a shot, rather than letting other people's excitement get in the way of our enjoyment.

And while I doubt that The House in Fata Morgana is going to live up to the expectations that your friends are setting up for it, it is still a VN that is well worth reading.

 

[ZKenir]

some information regarding Fruitbat Factory involvement in the The Princess, the Stray Cat, and Matters of the Heart.

Visual Novel Community Thread: No Auto Read Required

quoting the entire post

I see the word already got out ahead of an official announcement, so figured I might as well pop in to confirm it - we've signed on as co-publishers for "The Princess, the Stray Cat, and Matters of the Heart", and will be mainly helping with PR and English user support. As part of that, we're currently running our own QA on the game as well. It's a really fun game and I hope we'll be able to make the release go more smoothly.

We got involved very late in the process and as such our direct involvement with the contents is limited (the translation was already finished and game was basically ready to release when we became involved), but I can say that it was already supposed to release by now but we convinced Harukaze to delay it a little to allow more time for testing and fixes. We're still on a tight schedule, and moreover not directly able to make any changes. We can only report issues and suggest fixes to the developer, but we're doing everything we can to improve the quality ahead of the release (and afterwards too).

There will be a demo out soon, and we'll pass on the feedback from that to the developer as well. I hope you'll enjoy it!

 

[Kvik]

For the love of everything that is holy JUMP into Unlimited right away.

I'll also second Knurek's plea to jump straight into Unlimited.

For the past two nights I was trying to read Chaos;Child but I fallen asleep both times, so I might start up Unlimited tonight. I also want to play an RPG for a change of pace since I finished 3 VNs back to back.

 

[Exzyleph]

Sankaku Renai: Love Triangle Trouble (Suki to Suki to de Sankaku Ren'ai) will be out in a couple of days (on the 31st). Has anyone read it already? It wasn't really on my radar before, but the fact that it seemingly goes pretty ham with breaking the 4th wall makes it look a lot more interesting:

some information regarding Fruitbat Factory involvement in the The Princess, the Stray Cat, and Matters of the Heart.

Visual Novel Community Thread: No Auto Read Required

Was it ever confirmed that this was getting a proper (non-machine) translation?
IIRC, the screenshots looked fine but their marketing materials were pretty rough.

Though I suppose that that FruitBat Factory wouldn't have gotten involved like this if the translation was garbage.

For the past two nights I was trying to read Chaos;Child but I fallen asleep both times, so I might start up Unlimited tonight. I also want to play an RPG for a change of pace since I finished 3 VNs back to back.

That's completely understandable.

But to put it in a non-spoilery way, you've managed to power through the bad/mediocre parts of Muv-Luv and it only gets better from here on out. Much, much better. It would be a shame to stop before you got a taste of what's to come, so I would recommend that you at the very least make Unlimited the next VN that you read, even if you need to take a break to play another genre first.

 

[Theswweet]

Welp, I finished Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth. It was... quite a bit longer than I expected, coming from Mask of Deception, but not in a bad way. I really hope MoD/MoT can come to PC some day, because man - they're so, so good.

One thing that really surprised me was how much I started liking the combat. Mask of Deception never had hard enough battles that you needed to truly worry about your party composition, but playing on Hard combined with the new mechanics added to Mask of Truth, man. Even just as a TRPG instead of a VN I had a blast.

Now, what to read next? 428 (PC), or Fat Morgan (on Vita)? Well, I'll be playing Yakuza 0 next...

 

[Exzyleph]

There's now a demo for The Princess, the Stray Cat, and Matters of the Heart (VNDB) and to answer my own question above, the translation seems quite good from the bits I've read so far.

In addition, the release date has been announced as June 17th:
The Princess, the Stray Cat, and Matters of the Heart :: Demo Now Available, Release Date Announced!


ETA: According to the Fruitbat Factory discord the Steam release is based on the PS4 version, so don't expect an 18+ patch.

 

[ZKenir]

I remind to anyone interested in Baldr Sky that we're likely to get news regarding that title by the end of AX, so I guess Sekai Project and maybe Denpasoft.
We're also likely to get a date for the official release of Majikoi from JAST as in the past months they had the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face when it came of teasing the game was close to releasing.

 

[sk2k]

Any horror or sci-fi visual novels with just ONE ending? I have played Neighbour and loved it.

 

[Knurek]

Any horror or sci-fi visual novels with just ONE ending? I have played Neighbour and loved it.

 

[「Echo」]

The slowness of JAST is torture. They have potentially the most interesting lineup for me, especially if they intend to put said lineup on Steam (which really is the only reason I care) but they're just so slow about it I often forget them.

Still waiting on Flowers 3, even though I have them all on Vita. Always had a small wish that they could actually do FMD Muramasa as well... It's a hard one to read even for Japanese people though...

 

[Knurek]

The slowness of JAST is torture. They have potentially the most interesting lineup for me, especially if they intend to put said lineup on Steam (which really is the only reason I care) but they're just so slow about it I often forget them.

Still waiting on Flowers 3, even though I have them all on Vita. Always had a small wish that they could actually do FMD Muramasa as well... It's a hard one to read even for Japanese people though...

You have no idea how jealous I am of you folk capable of reading VNs in Japanese.
There's just so much untranslated great stuff out there.

 

[Exzyleph]

Any horror or sci-fi visual novels with just ONE ending? I have played Neighbour and loved it.

Planetarian is a really nice sci-fi VN and Higanbana and Higurashi, both by 07th Expansion, should fit the bill for horror.

I would also have liked to recommend Phenomeno, but the English translation is straight up garbage.


Other than that, you can easily search VNDB using those criteria.
Here's a search for single ending, horror or sci-fi, full English releases, sorted by rating: Horror or Sci-Fi