Community The Visual Novel Council | All Choices Lead To Here

Mivey

Mivey

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Jawmuncher said:
VNs requiring a mandaotry minimum Resolution aren't really a thing anymore right?

I recall there was something back in the day (When VNs first started hitting steam) but I can't recall the title.
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I think there's still some that only support a fixed set of resolutions. I guess it's possible that one might only support 1080p, but I think it should be fine if you play it on a screen with lower native res, the GPU should just scale it down. You can set that option in the Nvidia driver, and I'm sure the AMD one has a similar option.
 
skLaFarebear

skLaFarebear

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Absolutely howling at this segment of Muramasa

Seeing Kageaki bounce off all these Nitroplus characters was fucking incredible. Only Hikaru would be deranged enough to try and see what Kageaki's ideal woman is by throwing Saya into his dreams.



Also never let her be a VN dev all her choices suck they're the same thing.
 
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skLaFarebear

skLaFarebear

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Kvik said:
I don't know who most of them are. I suppose I will need to read more Nitro+ VNs. :flare_lmao:
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Tbf a lot of them are still unfortunately JP only. JAST please.

I didn't recognize most but I know that a few were from Hello World, Sumaga, Gekkou no Carnevale, and then fucking Chaos;Head at the very end.

Man what the FUCK is goin on in Muramasa rn villain Ginseigo-egg possesed Kageaki???? Had to end my session here but what the fuck how am I supposed to stop thinking about what's gonna happen next.

God like that scene with Kageaki and Hikaru's dream in the forest was so fucking good and then that whole village scene and then Chachamaru sounds like a tsurugi????
 
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「Echo」

「Echo」

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Mt. Whatever
Honestly? And this was also true for me when they re-made YUNO. I wish that 90's drawing style would come back or at least be more respected/imitated...

Like how they did for Langrisser 1 and 2 remake you know? You could swap to the old art? I love that. And EVE has that perfect 90's aesthetic that is just classic, and something I love very much. (YUNO did as well.) The newer styles... I don't mind them, but something definitely feels lost when you compare them.
 
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Li Kao

Li Kao

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「Echo」 said:
Honestly? And this was also true for me when they re-made YUNO. I wish that 90's drawing style would come back or at least be more respected/imitated...

Like how they did for Langrisser 1 and 2 remake you know? You could swap to the old art? I love that. And EVE has that perfect 90's aesthetic that is just classic, and something I love very much. (YUNO did as well.) The newer styles... I don't mind them, but something definitely feels lost when you compare them.
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Which Langrisser ? The last one with horrible design ? You really could change back to the glorious old art ? Even the units ?
 
「Echo」

「Echo」

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I'm surprised kickstarters are still going... and VN localizers are still using them. I feel like a lot of trust was lost on KS. 😓

I know I at least gave up on them and don't trust the platform anymore...
 
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skLaFarebear

skLaFarebear

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「Echo」 said:
I'm surprised kickstarters are still going... and VN localizers are still using them. I feel like a lot of trust was lost on KS. 😓

I know I at least gave up on them and don't trust the platform anymore...
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Generally most are from years ago (see Sharin no Kuni) that are still getting updates.

If anything though, Ninetail has knocked it out of the park with their Venusblood kickstarters. Hell, Hollow ended up releasing even sooner than it's intended date, with the Steam release only lagging behind because they rejected it at the last second. But Ninetail is unfortunately the minority in what's been a pretty extensive list of of rough kickstarters.
 
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Kvik

Kvik

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It's a shame we have to wait a little longer for Harvest Festa, but I think Steiner is still on duty for HF so the localisation will still be competent, hopefully.
 
Kvik

Kvik

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Looks like Cyanotype Daydream will be an all-ages version, but it sounds like there will be some additional content as well.
 
skLaFarebear

skLaFarebear

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Kvik said:
Looks like Cyanotype Daydream will be an all-ages version, but it sounds like there will be some additional content as well.
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Specifically it's a script rewrite for the missing h-scenes and 8 bonus scenarios. That's in addition to new CGs and a resolution upscale.

My only wonder is how the translation will be. Bango isn't involved with this project and no one really knows who's doing it, but I at least hope it'll still be solid.
 
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skLaFarebear

skLaFarebear

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Muramasa Conqueror Route Complete

I'll probably keep my thoughts about this route short as I want to package it altogether after I finish the Demon route (which seems more like an epilogue than a full route) and what I assume will be the ending of the VN.

Really there's few words to describe it as anything less than incredible from start to finish. The twists are just so insane and over the top and never once really did this route let off, even during our brief stint with Kageggaki and Chachamaru during the Green Dragon Society meetups and the war. I can see why people thought the latter would drag, but for a VN that's spent a very significant amount of it's time being much more of a personal story who's strengths lie upon it's honestly unmatched character interactions, it was nice to have that perspective change for a bit. It was refreshing for me, but for those who wanted to see how the story would progress next after that huge plot bomb in Hikaru's room, I can see why they'd feel it start to drag a bit.

Like I said, I'll have a bigger writeup once I hopefully wrap everything up soon, but as for the tl;dr of how I feel about it now, it's definitely my favorite of the main routes and god the highs were just so damn high, and the narrative was absolutely at it's most devastating here. It was hard not to get real choked up with that scene of Kageaki and Chachamaru underneath the tree, or Muramasa meeting a blind Tadeyasu who discovered she was responsible for Yuhi's death, or at the very end, Kageaki finally showing Hikaru the love she was denied from her birth by her parents/clan. It's gonna be hard to sleep tonight because I really want nothing more to finish the novel as I can't really stop thinkin about it right now.






Also that puzzle took me 4 fucking hours to solve, that was legitimately one of the most difficult things I've done in a while, but god damn did it feel relieving to do it without a guide.
 
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Kvik

Kvik

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Muramasa Conqueror Route


skLaFarebear said:
I'll probably keep my thoughts about this route short as I want to package it altogether after I finish the Demon route (which seems more like an epilogue than a full route) and what I assume will be the ending of the VN.
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The epilogue is only a small part of the Demon route.
Re puzzle - I spent like 30 minutes with pen and paper before knowing to do the diagonals first. Once I've done that, it's smooth sailing. :flare_mogu:
 
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skLaFarebear

skLaFarebear

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Muramasa finished. Really no other words to describe it besides incredible, and the ending was absolutely perfect.

Full spoilerish thoughts


The demon route, more so being the "true epilogue" as we see how it connects the Conqueror route to the epilogue was fantastic. A part of me hoped that Kageaki and Muramasa would be able to get away from it all, or work towards building a peaceful resolution for the both of them, but there was no way for the story to end like that. Moreso it was a short story of acceptance, that Kageaki and Muramasa would finally become the thing that they had originally despised the most, ironically enough, in the Hero route where they would arguably walk the same path that Ichijou did there by murdering their way to peace through the law of balance. However, where Ichijou saw it as falling to a necessary evil, Kageaki and Muramasa embraced it as their own truth.


The ending screencap said it all, with this being the origin story of how they would become known as the Full Metal Daemon Muramasa. I could see why many would be put off by the ending to Kageaki's story (or in this case the end to his origin story), it's not a satisfying conclusion and is far different from the norm of a typical VN ending, but any other conclusion would not have fit the consistent tone set throughout this story. Kageaki killing Muramasa and being "freed" from his curse could be seen as the right resolution for characters that are considered heroic, a sacrifice for the better of the world after all. But for characters that should be considered the villains, it is the equivalent of running away from your crimes. Throughout the entire novel, the story built up to the two of them accepting each other's wills and their shared responsibility in all of this, and killing Muramasa to absolve himself of everything would be the ultimate betrayal of this theme. And while that could make for an interesting twist in of itself, another reason why I don't think that ending would fit is the line that Tadeyasu told Muramasa that now that she committed the sin of murder, she would have to continue on to give it some kind of meaning, otherwise there would be nothing left. Kageaki killing her then and there and having himself most likely die by either Ichijou's or Kanae's hand would moreso be seen as the escapism that was denied to them throughout the entire novel and as a result all those lives lost by their hands would've truly lost all their meaning (maybe Yuhi's less so if Kanae was the one to do it, but still).


This was the origin of how Kageaki and Muramasa became known as the Full Metal Daemon, and no matter how good their intentions were in finding their way to peace, they would never be able to leave the path they set for themselves. Too many have died and even more have suffered for their cause that they could never suddenly become the saints they might have aspired to be at one point, yet Sorimachi, Ichijou, and Kanae all showed the both of them that there would also never be any running away from it all either. Kageaki embracing his role as the villain in front of Ichijou was his final task to fully accepting his the role he was hesitant to step into from the moment he first lost control all those years ago when Hikaru was conceived.


The line "I have faith in my evil" itself has many interpretations that you could take from it. Maybe it was him finally accepting that he was the villain of this story the whole time, like he did when he delivered the killing blow to himself before striking down Hikaru. As well as his incompatibility with Chachamaru, who herself mentions she was never cut out to be a villain, and her final "curse" to try and make Kageaki embrace becoming a hero. Or maybe it's him having faith that his evil could bring about the peace he and Muramasa very much desire. Or maybe it was just a throwaway line to get Sorimachi off his back where afterwards he followed up by telling him that "if you saw me crying while killing the emishii girls it was from tears of joy" (a statement that's obviously a lie). There's also a lot to dissect between Sorimachi serving as Narahara's self-insert as well and his relationship with Kageaki, but that's a huge conversation for another time.


Ultimately I believed that it was a pretty positive ending especially when you considered the whole of how harrowing the narrative was before it. Kageaki's desire for peace was, at last, able to at least touch one person before the credits started rolling. Idk about anyone else, but after 90+ hours it was immensely satisfying seeing that one scene at the end with Hikari, as before this point it felt like every attempt by Kageaki to do the right thing never went his way and it always left him and everything around him in a worse place.


It's probably why this ending now rates among my favorite of any piece of fiction. There's a lot of layers and room for interpretation you can get by re-reading it and picking apart from it. And looking back you can really see the through line of how we as the reader see how Kageaki got to this point. From outright rejecting the Law of Balance (nemesis) to accepting it for what it is, but ultimately opting to to believe it should be used to maintain the status quo (hero) to accepting that the Law of Balance can be the tool that Kageaki/Muramasa are able to wield in their search for true peace (Conqueror/Demon). It was a long story of acceptance, not just for Kageaki, but for a lot of people around him if you look hard enough to see how their stories evolved throughout the narrative as well.


Everything about this VN was top notch, the production values, music, art, story, writing, etc. but the character interactions were the star of the show. Every conversation, no matter how important or insignificant, was so enthralling due to the really diverse cast of characters, no one less unique than Kageaki who's an anomaly as far as protagonists go. There's so much depth to his character, that no matter how grey his actions are, whether through his own choice or not, it was nearly impossible not to sympathize with him every step of the way. Especially when each step was another corpse of a likeable character or hated person he had to climb over to reach his goal. No less deserving of sympathy were the main antagonists, technically the main heroines of each route, who all had their own goals and no shortage of suffering on their side too. Narahara's message of this not being a story of heroes rang so true, but maybe that's why it was so much easier to sympathize with all the main players of the story, as rarely did the story ever try to portray their actions as anything but doing what they felt was necessary to fulfill their own goals.


Also shout out to the fantastic final fight between Kageaki and Hikaru. It was worth all the build up, and all the extremely subtle hints paid off with the ultimate reveal that he was her father all along (something they both definitely knew this whole time but was pretty well kept from the reader). The choreography and emotions were masterfully done and the end of the fight, leading right into the credits, was probably the most moving part of the whole novel and genuinely one of the more moving moments in this medium as a whole. It was a beautifully directed scene.


Really my only issue with the novel was with part of the Hero route, where the Law of Balance's interpretation of "everyone has good and bad in them" was really shaky in both it's message and even more so in it's execution with Doshin's Page showing up right after as a convenient plot device to try and shake Ichijou with some of the most contrived logic I've seen. And Conqueror, through it's constant use of the Law of Balance, never really brought this specific aspect of the law back to the forefront (and honestly it was better off this way). But ultimately this was about 30 minutes of content I didn't like out of 90+ hours which is extremely impressive and why I don't harp too hard on it.


FMD Final Playtime


non-spoiler tl;dr go read it if you got 80-100 hours give or take it's one of the most harrowing stories I've read, but it's really really really fucking great and there's nothing out there in this medium like it.

Also shoutout to Moogy and Makoto on this TL work cuz like my goodness this localization was fucking fantastic. It was a dream to read from start to finish with maybe like 1-2 spelling errors that i picked up on which is amazing for something this long.
 
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Snakethesniper

Snakethesniper

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I'm reading the second route of Fate Stay/Night but I think I'll pause it to start Muramasa, I bought it some time ago and was waiting to finish fate but all this talk gets me curious
 
skLaFarebear

skLaFarebear

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It may just be because I'm still on the high of just finishing it, but I think Muramasa's ending might be my favorite ending of any piece of fiction. The more I dig into it and reread it, the more I see just so many layers to pick apart at. It's definitely deserving of it's (minor spoils) controversial status.

Snakethesniper said:
I'm reading the second route of Fate Stay/Night but I think I'll pause it to start Muramasa, I bought it some time ago and was waiting to finish fate but all this talk gets me curious
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I hope you enjoy it! Just be aware that it's a massive commitment up there in it's length along the likes of F/SN, Baldr Sky, Umineko, and Dies Irae. If you're planning on putting F/SN on hold for it know that you won't be coming back to it for quite a bit.
 

rickyson33

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all the Muramasa talk in here inspired me to pick it up again(read the prologue a couple months ago and hadn't touched it yet since)

basically read the first chapter in one sitting(well two I guess did stop for a hour or two in the middle), will see how good a job the other chapters can do of building on things but a very promising start so far
 
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skLaFarebear

skLaFarebear

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AHA-Lambda said:
has there still not been anything said on if full metal daemon muramasa will come to steam?
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Nothing said publicly by JAST, but they are working on an all-ages version of it. Considering there's a steamdb link for it still, but considering some of it's content, it's not hard to imagine it's been rejected and JAST is probably waiting for the all-ages version to be completed before resubmitting.
 
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skLaFarebear

skLaFarebear

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Kvik said:
I wonder if JAST will localise the Muramasa fandiscs. Warlord Kageaki's exploits will be interesting to explore.
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Think they said if there was enough support for the main entry they would do the fandiscs. Which it did according to JAST.

Hope we see them considering they're short enough that you'd think there'd be no reason not to, even if some people consider them non-canon cuz technically Narahara didn't write them.

Edit: Well then...


What'll come first the VN translation or the movie.
 
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skLaFarebear

skLaFarebear

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Kvik said:
Well, I don't disagree. I've been buying mostly VNs this year. If Azure wasn't released this year, Muramasa may as well be my GOTY. :flare_bath:
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In a year where Rance launched itself into my second favorite RPG franchise, Muramasa still took the top spot for me. Maybe its recently bias speaking but it may be my favorite thing I’ve played in nearly a decade since muv luv alternative back when the fan tl for that released.

edit: i didnt know steiner was translating Hello Lady! Definitely more interested now than i was before

 
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「Echo」

「Echo」

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mhm... There is a Steam page for Hello Lady but the publisher is listed as Hikari Field. Whom is... not great. Real shit TL's when they even provide them.
 
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