Community The Visual Novel Council | All Choices Lead To Here

[Snakethesniper]

I'm reading Raging Loop, I'm like 7-8 Hours in.
Apart from the font used that I think it's a poor choice for a VN, I find difficult to remember the name of the various characters. I don't know if it's a matter of quantity or if the names are not the "usuals" you can find in other VNs and so it's more difficult to remember/associate them.

 

[skLaFarebear]

I'm reading Raging Loop, I'm like 7-8 Hours in.
Apart from the font used that I think it's a poor choice for a VN, I find difficult to remember the name of the various characters. I don't know if it's a matter of quantity or if the names are not the "usuals" you can find in other VNs and so it's more difficult to remember/associate them.

I feel the same way for most VNs I played recently, but in my case that's just called "getting old"

 

[Exzyleph]

Looks like the dream of Muramasa on Steam might be dead:

https://steamdb.info/app/1643760/

 

[tetel]

Looks like the dream of Muramasa on Steam might be dead:

https://steamdb.info/app/1643760/

How so? I'm missing something because everything there seems fine.

Also, coming this month:
And demo here: PRODUCER (2021) - Demo by Stuffed Wombat

 

[Exzyleph]

How so? I'm missing something because everything there seems fine.

The TL;DR is that an "Unknown" game with web assets available very strongly suggest that the game was rejected.

It is unknown why this leak occurs, but previous examples include Evenicle 2, The Curse of Kudan, Jiangshi x Daoshi (this happened before the game had even been announced), Meteor World Actor (also leaking the game), and many, many more.

 

[Li Kao]

Meteor World Actor

It looks good. How is it ? Any questionable content like loli porn etc ?

 

[Exzyleph]

It looks good. How is it ? Any questionable content like loli porn etc ?

It's pretty good and it's got a banger of a jazzy soundtrack.

The biggest issue is that it is the first of three(?) planned games, and that every route ends with major plot-points unresolved because of that. The second episode is in the works, but it is unclear if we'll get it in English. And if we do get it in English, then it'll likely be a Johren exclusive (like the first one) and use Denuvo, which Johren started using after MWA was released.

I also wouldn't recommend it if you prefer the protagonist to be likable, because he is anything but likeable.

As for questionable content, all heroines are working adults, though young looking, so just take a look at those character designs and see if you're OK with them. Also, very mild spoiler, the fairy is nude in one CG, so look at her as well.

 

[Li Kao]

It's pretty good and it's got a banger of a jazzy soundtrack.

The biggest issue is that it is the first of three(?) planned games, and that every route ends with major plot-points unresolved because of that. The second episode is in the works, but it is unclear if we'll get it in English. And if we do get it in English, then it'll likely be a Johren exclusive (like the first one) and use Denuvo, which Johren started using after MWA was released.

I also wouldn't recommend it if you prefer the protagonist to be likable, because he is anything but likeable.

As for questionable content, all heroines are working adults, though young looking, so just take a look at those character designs and see if you're OK with them. Also, very mild spoiler, the fairy is nude in one CG, so look at her as well.

Thanks for the elaboration ! I'm not averse to adult content, the mosaic would even be sort of a bad point. Just really less interested if there is a route where you fuck a character looking too much like a kid.
For an admittedly extreme example, I was really interested in Eiyuu Senki for the good art and gameplay. Then I googled the CG.

 

[skLaFarebear]

It'd be a huge shame if Muramasa gets rejected by Steam. I'm only on ch 3 but this work is truly special and should reach as wide an audience as possible. At least JAST has reported that it's already their fastest selling title (and maybe already their best), so no need to worry about it's success but I definitely think it could hit a relatively big audience by being on Steam as well.

It's pretty good and it's got a banger of a jazzy soundtrack.

The biggest issue is that it is the first of three(?) planned games, and that every route ends with major plot-points unresolved because of that. The second episode is in the works, but it is unclear if we'll get it in English. And if we do get it in English, then it'll likely be a Johren exclusive (like the first one) and use Denuvo, which Johren started using after MWA was released.

I also wouldn't recommend it if you prefer the protagonist to be likable, because he is anything but likeable.

As for questionable content, all heroines are working adults, though young looking, so just take a look at those character designs and see if you're OK with them. Also, very mild spoiler, the fairy is nude in one CG, so look at her as well.

fwiw, the second episode has already been released back in June. It's very short though, around 10~ hours to finish.

 

[Knurek]

Looks like the dream of Muramasa on Steam might be dead:

https://steamdb.info/app/1643760/

Time for a quick GOG release and some scathing gaming press articles.
Hey, it worked for Expression Amrilato

 

[Exzyleph]

Saw this tool recommended on a VN discord and thought I'd share: Magpie
Everything in the repo is in Japanese, but the tool itself supports English and is very easy to use.

The TL;DR is that it allows you to upscale VNs (and other games) using a variety of scaling algorithms that outperform those built into VNs.
For example, here is Muramasa at 1440p using the built-in fullscreen function compared to using Magpie with the anime4k filter:

Muramasa : Screenshot Comparison

Make comparison of screenshots

screenshotcomparison.com

It also supports integer scaling, which I personally prefer for low-res VNs since it preserves that pixely goodness.

 

[skLaFarebear]

Saw this tool recommended on a VN discord and thought I'd share: Magpie
Everything in the repo is in Japanese, but the tool itself supports English and is very easy to use.

The TL;DR is that it allows you to upscale VNs (and other games) using a variety of scaling algorithms that outperform those built into VNs.
For example, here is Muramasa at 1440p using the built-in fullscreen function compared to using Magpie with the anime4k filter:

Muramasa : Screenshot Comparison

Make comparison of screenshots

screenshotcomparison.com

It also supports integer scaling, which I personally prefer for low-res VNs since it preserves that pixely goodness.

Might have to give this a try...Wonder how well it'd work for Uta as well since those are rendered at 720p

 

[Snakethesniper]

Saw this tool recommended on a VN discord and thought I'd share: Magpie
Everything in the repo is in Japanese, but the tool itself supports English and is very easy to use.

The TL;DR is that it allows you to upscale VNs (and other games) using a variety of scaling algorithms that outperform those built into VNs.
For example, here is Muramasa at 1440p using the built-in fullscreen function compared to using Magpie with the anime4k filter:

Muramasa : Screenshot Comparison

Make comparison of screenshots

screenshotcomparison.com

It also supports integer scaling, which I personally prefer for low-res VNs since it preserves that pixely goodness.

wow is night and day

 

[Knurek]

Saw this tool recommended on a VN discord and thought I'd share: Magpie
Everything in the repo is in Japanese, but the tool itself supports English and is very easy to use.

The TL;DR is that it allows you to upscale VNs (and other games) using a variety of scaling algorithms that outperform those built into VNs.
For example, here is Muramasa at 1440p using the built-in fullscreen function compared to using Magpie with the anime4k filter:

Muramasa : Screenshot Comparison

Make comparison of screenshots

screenshotcomparison.com

It also supports integer scaling, which I personally prefer for low-res VNs since it preserves that pixely goodness.

Chinese actually, but nevertheless - nice find.

 

[Kvik]

Saw this tool recommended on a VN discord

A pretty nifty tool, thanks for sharing! A lot of upscaling options, including AMD FSR.

I tried it with Tsukihime and seems to work fine, although I still much prefer integer scaling. I can't take screenshots to compare because that version of Onscripter is as old as the earth itself hence Steam Overlay doesn't work.

Looks like a possible contender against Lossless Scaling (which also recently introduced FSR). I have to say Lossless Scaling is still on the lead as far as integer scaling goes since it supports arbitrary scaling factor.

 

[Knurek]

Pity neither of these work with Steam Remote Play (or rather apply the upscaling after Steam takes the snapshot), so I can't stream the upscaled VNs to my tablet.

 

[Kvik]

Pity neither of these work with Steam Remote Play (or rather apply the upscaling after Steam takes the snapshot)

You probably will need to use something like dgVoodoo2 or shudders DxWnd.

 

[Snakethesniper]

It's probably old news since it's from before the release, but I've read that Muramasa was rejected from steam. Did they tried again after and we are waiting for that?

 

[Knurek]

You probably will need to use something like dgVoodoo2 or shudders DxWnd.

dgVoodoo2 doesn't have those noice scaling algos though.
gamescope seems to have them, but is LinuxSteamOS exclusive.

 

[Exzyleph]

It's probably old news since it's from before the release, but I've read that Muramasa was rejected from steam. Did they tried again after and we are waiting for that?

If Muramasa was rejected, then it happened a few days ago (see my post #1753).

GhostTrick asked about it on their discord but the person asked wasn't aware if it had been rejected, so right now we are just waiting for some official statement or for the game to actually be released (if it wasn't actually rejected or if it was rejected for purely technical reasons).

 

[Exzyleph]

It has not been announced anywhere that I have been able to find, but Muramasa got an v1.01 update one or two days ago:

v1.01
-Fixed issue where switching audio devices can cause the game to freeze.
-Fixed crashing during a certain random event.
-Fixed broken nameplate in the technical database.
-Minor text fixes.

To download it, you need to visit the new Patches page on JASTUSA.com and login.

 

[Myradeer]

It looks good. How is it ? Any questionable content like loli porn etc ?

Expect completely flat inconclusive ending on almost every Kinugasa Shougo works. I recall most routes other than main route are pretty uninspiring as well.

 

[Kvik]

Muramasa chapter 3 and 4 finished.

The story of the Oji siblings is a tragic one. I can't help empathising with them even though I despise their method and what they had to do to come that far. A fairly "calm" chapter after the heavy read that is chapter 2. It's nice to see Ichjiou and Otori having fun at the circuit to inject some levity into the proceedings.

Chapter 4 is where everything breaks loose. Sorimachi is such a great villain. An amoral character with a moral code? With skills to back it up, to boot. I find myself laughing at the exchange between Sorimachi and Kageaki because it's so well-written. You have a villain that is competent and knows exactly what they are, and what their opponent is. While Kageaki tells himself he's a demon, yet at the same time he can't make peace with that very fact. While It is true what Kageaki said that Sorimachi didn't know the half of what he has to endure, but at the same time, I feel that Kageaki himself doesn't realise how close Sorimachi is to the truth.

The pacing of the rest of the chapter was quite relentless. I really like how Kageaki exchanged a couple of sentences with the GHQ major and went (paraphrased) "yep, there's no reasoning with this racist clown". Ginseigo's appearance was quite something too. It remains to be seen whether Hikaru has truly lost her mind, or there is a real objective behind this "Law of Might" as she put it. As it stands, Muramasa has no chance of defeating Ginseigo. At least, not by herself, I think.

The next chapter will be very interesting, now that Ichijou has her own tsurugi. Sadly, I think I'm heading into a bad end since I've lost Otori and I know now that the affection gauge works in reverse.

On to chapter 5 tonight.

 

[Cacher]

Muramasa chapter 3 and 4 finished.

The story of the Oji siblings is a tragic one. I can't help empathising with them even though I despise their method and what they had to do to come that far. A fairly "calm" chapter after the heavy read that is chapter 2. It's nice to see Ichjiou and Otori having fun at the circuit to inject some levity into the proceedings.

Chapter 4 is where everything breaks loose. Sorimachi is such a great villain. An amoral character with a moral code? With skills to back it up, to boot. I find myself laughing at the exchange between Sorimachi and Kageaki because it's so well-written. You have a villain that is competent and knows exactly what they are, and what their opponent is. While Kageaki tells himself he's a demon, yet at the same time he can't make peace with that very fact. While It is true what Kageaki said that Sorimachi didn't know the half of what he has to endure, but at the same time, I feel that Kageaki himself doesn't realise how close Sorimachi is to the truth.

The pacing of the rest of the chapter was quite relentless. I really like how Kageaki exchanged a couple of sentences with the GHQ major and went (paraphrased) "yep, there's no reasoning with this racist clown". Ginseigo's appearance was quite something too. It remains to be seen whether Hikaru has truly lost her mind, or there is a real objective behind this "Law of Might" as she put it. As it stands, Muramasa has no chance of defeating Ginseigo. At least, not by herself, I think.

The next chapter will be very interesting, now that Ichijou has her own tsurugi. Sadly, I think I'm heading into a bad end since I've lost Otori and I know now that the affection gauge works in reverse.

On to chapter 5 tonight.

Congrats, you have entered Ichijou's route. Chapter 5 is my favorite chapter in the common route.

 

[Exzyleph]

NekoNyan did another status update:

• Kinkoi: Golden Loveriche Fan-disc: 25% Translation
• Cafe Stella and the Reapers’ Butterflies: 80% Translation, 80% Editing
• The Future Radio and the Artificial Pigeons: 100% Translation, 90% Editing
• Aoi Tori: 70% Translation, 20% Editing
• Making Lovers Fan Disc: 100% Translation
• Secret Project #1: 100% Translation, 50% Editing
• Secret Project #3: 55% Translation

And Koikari: Love for Hire got a store page and a rough release date:


I've been looking forward to this one, since Sankaku Renai (also) by ASA Project was one of the funniest VNs that I've read.

 

[Snakethesniper]

Haven't got it yet but for anyone interested there's a sale on "The Devil On G-String" on steam and denpasoft

 

[Cacher]

And Koikari: Love for Hire got a store page and a rough release date:

I played the demo of this game years ago. It was hilarious so I think you will not be disappointed.

 

[Kvik]

Muramasa chapter 5 ended.

Seeing how precise Sorimachi called it in the previous chapter ("you're just a regular guy") was quite hilarious. Past Kageaki turned out to be exactly that: A salaryman with an office job. A musha-trained salaryman, but still.

Watching Hikaru wasting away because of (I assume) mercury poisoning is heartbreaking. I think the Minato elder in this chapter represents some of the worst aspects of Japanese culture. "Duty above all else", "respect your elders", "pride comes first", etc. Everything could've turn out differently if Hikaru had the medical attention she needed much earlier. Still, the irony of someone with the name "Dr. Mengele" actually saving a life did not lost on me.

Hikaru's obsession of her father does feel a little confusing at first since she doesn't seem to have any memory of him before her poisoning, but having the same dream she wasn't able to wake up from for over a year -- I can see where her hatred is coming from, as misplaced as it is. It is truly regrettable that she went insane because of it, of which I think the mercury poisoning is a large contributing factor.

What happened to Mizuhi was also hard to watch/read. I think they can easily cut to black here since the actual description of the act is horrifying enough. And of course, what happened to Subaru is also a great loss. The conflict between her pacifist ethos and Hikaru's Law of Might is something I wish could be explored further. I think it speaks a lot of Kageaki's character when we saw how he struggles to respect Subaru's teaching even if the curse would not allow him so.

I wonder who managed to cleave the metal helmet in two before Hikaru though. There was a flash of CG but not enough detail to clue me in on the situation.

On to the first route tonight, then.

 

[Exzyleph]

Saw the dev shill this VN a little while back. Looks like it could be a fun read and the price can't be beat:

 

[ZKenir]

 

[Knurek]

Oh good, erotic sex, I was fearing for a moment we'd get another kind.

 

[Exzyleph]

Oh good, erotic sex, I was fearing for a moment we'd get another kind.

The other kind is depressingly common in VNs

 

[Myradeer]

Oh good, erotic sex, I was fearing for a moment we'd get another kind.

The trailer OST is unnecessarily epic and reminds me of Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen, so at least it has that going for it.

 

[Exzyleph]

Shiravune just announced Harem Kingdom by Smee, much to the surprise of NekoNyan who apparently thought they'd be doing it.



No Steam release announced at this point, but it sounds like it might happen later.
I sure hope so, cause DMM still insists on putting a variant of Denuvo with online activations on their Johren releases, and payment on that site is painful.

And it sounds like they'll be doing more of the same in the future:

 

[Knurek]

And it sounds like they'll be doing more of the same in the future:

Well, I guess that's the only way we'll get an official Tsukihime and F/SN releases.

 

[ZKenir]

if Tsukihimere ever comes out in the west it'll probably be from Aniplex since they already publish it in JP and they have the means to publish it in the west either themselves or through Aniplex.exe

I guess it could also be Delightworks since they publish Melty Blood Type Lumina and they are actually the reason FGO came over in the first place

 

[AHA-Lambda]

Digging up an old one from the past but are there still plans to release the other 6 "bonus" episodes of Higurashi?

MangaGamer To Bring Full 14-Chapter Higurashi Series To Steam

www.siliconera.com

EDIT: actually now I think about it, any news on Umineko Saku either?

 

[Exzyleph]

Digging up an old one from the past but are there still plans to release the other 6 "bonus" episodes of Higurashi?

MangaGamer To Bring Full 14-Chapter Higurashi Series To Steam

www.siliconera.com

EDIT: actually now I think about it, any news on Umineko Saku either?

Somebody asked on the MangaGamer discord quite recently:

But who knows what that means in practice.

 

[Knurek]

Considering how short they are, they surely won't release them piecemeal (with 1.5 years between each episode)...
They won't, right?

 

[GhostTrick]

This came to the mailbox this week

Now the only one missing is KimiNozo.

 

[ZKenir]

 

[Myradeer]

Somebody asked on the MangaGamer discord quite recently:

But who knows what that means in practice.

Technically R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire isn't "dropped" yet also, so who knows

 

[Exzyleph]

Fruitbat Factory got a new server up and running, since Discord are being slow as molasses:

Join the Fruitbat Factory Community Server Discord Server!

Welcome to the official Fruitbat Factory server! Always bringing you the best games! | 6596 members

discord.com

The old server still exists and the thieves are busy pretending that everything is back to normal, by deleting any comment talking about what happened and banning the posters.

 

[skLaFarebear]

Sol Press's website has been down for over a month with no update on their social media as well as no one knowing what's going on in their official discord.

Someone on reddit mentioned that they've quietly declared bankruptcy and, according to their sources, "are looking to sell their licenses to publishers."



Hopefully this means their games go to other more reputable publishers, especially the ones that have been stuck in QA hell like Nukitashi and Irotori

 

[Exzyleph]

Sol Press's website has been down for over a month with no update on their social media as well as no one knowing what's going on in their official discord.

Someone on reddit mentioned that they've quietly declared bankruptcy and, according to their sources, "are looking to sell their licenses to publishers."



Hopefully this means their games go to other more reputable publishers, especially the ones that have been stuck in QA hell like Nukitashi and Irotori

On their discord their employees (not including the CEO) have been assuring people that everything is alright for while
In either case, I regret ever paying them money on Kickstarter ... twice

 

[ZKenir]

I only lack 2 of their VN, I think I'll just purchase 1 now and 1 next month just in case, could risk waiting for a sale but I'd rather be sure I got them

Thanks for the warning

edit; only Under One Wing left to buy, also this only reinforces my opinion that all these 3rd party websites/stores can die at the drop of a hat and the less I purchase from them the better it is in the long run when things go pear-shaped

 

[skLaFarebear]

On their discord their employees (not including the CEO) have been assuring people that everything is alright for while
In either case, I regret ever paying them money on Kickstarter ... twice

Hard to believe everything is ok when your website is down for nearly two months and u dont post anything on your social media. Assuring everyone that everything is ok on discord only is about as far from professional, and honestly believable, as possible.

Not that I blame the employees and mods here. I’m sure they don’t know more than we do. These kinds of things are usually dysfunction coming from the top. Nothing screams incompetent more than your CEOs/higher ups fucking everything up and not even telling the employees about it.

 

[Exzyleph]

Hard to believe everything is ok when your website is down for nearly two months and u dont post anything on your social media. Assuring everyone that everything is ok on discord only is about as far from professional, and honestly believable, as possible.

Not that I blame the employees and mods here. I’m sure they don’t know more than we do. These kinds of things are usually dysfunction coming from the top. Nothing screams incompetent more than your CEOs/higher ups fucking everything up and not even telling the employees about it.

Yeah.
And we've known for a long time that Sol Press is dysfunctional.
It takes a lot to get a bunch of freelancers publicly warn against ever working for a company:

Localization company Sol Press allegedly underpays contractors

Sol Press is a relatively young localization company located in the USA, with a focus on manga, light novels, and visual novels. In the few years they have been around, they have published a decent number of titles and run several Kickstarter campaigns. During this time Sol Press has...

www.resetera.com

 

[Knurek]

In either case, I regret ever paying them money on Kickstarter ... twice

At least you didn't back Sharin no Kuni KS.

 

[Exzyleph]

At least you didn't back Sharin no Kuni KS.

It'll be out any day now