Guys
アマカノ２ website is up! Though I can't seem to view it unless if I use proxy or VPN. :(
http://azarashi-soft.nexton-net.jp/amakano2/
Thanks for the heads up! I don't have to use a proxy to view it so it's not Japan locked, but who knows what kind of restrictions they put. So far I like all the details they revealed on the site, especially the "Point" part, it feels like they really understand what made Amakano special and aren't trying to change the formula in a weird way.
As far as the new additions, I'm not too sure about the artificial voice reading the text, but I like the "oazuke mode", the latter parts of the games could be somewhat dense in ecchi scenes which was fine but not very practical when re-reading a route or looking for a particular moment.
The only small disappointment is with the heroines themselves. One of the charms of the Amakano relationships was that they all started from zero, and here two out of three already know the protagonist to various extents, and seem to be a little too close to him to start with. I mean, one keeps hugging him and treating him like a little brother, another just shows up and lives in his room : that screams a bit too much "typical eroge convenient (aka unrealistic) setup" which is something that the previous games have managed to avoid to a certain degree before. Getting close to the characters was more thanks to the protagonist current actions than just fate or past interactions. We'll see with the demo, speaking of which :
Also! Trial of Amakano 2 already released! I am waiting for your opinion, guys, because right now I don't have a time to play at all, ugh.
I've had some difficulties downloading the trial (all links to Google Drives linking to exceeded quota...) but I finally got the demo now, I should be able to play it over the week end.
EDIT: Also, has anyone been able to find the collaboration project between SMEE and Azarashi Soft? It's called
Azasumi, and it's supposedly available right now on Fanza (for 100 yen) but I can't seem to find it. I'd buy it if anyone can give me a link to the Fanza product page.
Hey man, I'm glad you didnt forget me, your ping made me a little happy. I'm still alive and kicking, tho with all my job and health issues I'm having a lesser time to write around here. I'm still playing visual novels and trying to follow industry as good as I can tho.
I was a bit worried but I'm happy to see you're still here and enjoying the industry still, and I hope your job and health situation gets better!
Also, some quick impressions on the few games played so far:
Dark Nights : I have played further into it, completing both normal and romantic endings 1 and 4. Unfortunately, these all suffer from being a little too "Otome" for me, I mean every potential partner is a cool, dark, ancient superpower wielding entity (guardian spirit, ogre, undead lord, etc...) that also happens to have a tragic and tortured past, but comes to terms with it thanks to the love and support of our young heroine (16), whose gentleness and dedication they never encountered before. I haven't read/seen Twilight but this feels awfully close. This is fine for one route, but when the same setup is used basically everywhere, the interesting factor gets rather weak and since I'm not playing it for the characters themselves (although I like the heroine's decisiveness) it's hard to remain focused on the text and backstories. I'm a bit sad that the angel's motivations were never really explained and it feels more like she's only here to be an obstacle to our heroes than have a plan of her own. There is also unfortunately nothing quite as pace-changing and dramatic as the Normal 2 ending, the rest of the endings being, well, normal I guess. All in all, I'd say it's okay for one route and ending 2 but maybe not worth investing too much time into it. One characters' routes remains which may blow my mind (unlikely but...), and there are those after scenes locked until completing all endings that are rather teasing. We'll see.
孕女～精子を欲しがる淫らな教え子～ (Chieri) : Pretty much what I expected from Guilty. It's short but there is still a bit of story/character development after the very sex-focused opening scenes. Don't expect too much though.
喫茶ステラと死神の蝶 : Well, it's Yuzusoft which is sort of a safe bet when it comes to minimum quality, but I'll admit I was expecting the second part of the title, the whole death god and related butterflies, to feature more prominently as least in the common route, especially after a rather intriguing opening. Rather, most if not all of the common route is focused on setting up the Stella Cafe as... a normal cafe with normal cafe problems. Decorate the place, hire waitresses and cooks, you know the drill, it's a very common theme in eroge, and soon enough the whole Shinigami business feels more like an excuse to get the characters together than an actual plot point. Honestly it's pretty boring, especially because everything just goes according to plans and there's not really any long-lasting issues or, god forbid, any failures that occur.Yeah characters will keep mentioning how this business is hard and all (and it is, when looking as the percentage of places closing after a single year), but the game doesn't really make it feel that way. I'm also not too big a fan of the protagonist, I can understand the character's worries and I like that he's not afraid to put in some efforts but in the end, the situations improves mostly from his surroundings rather than him (dad gives super helpful advice, childhood friend comes to work with, other friend's sister ends up being top-chef, etc...). I would have preferred (and he too) if his own efforts made a more significant difference in the long run.
There was potential for drama with Suzune's story but as it turns out her condition is more self-inflicted than anything else. I liked the character from the start, she reminds me a lot of Ushio from
Mashimaro, and tried to get to her route first but unfortunately it's locked until one other route is completed. I don't get why it had to be locked though, yeah it's probably shorter than the other four but there were no spoilers in there, just let me choose who I want damnit! Oh well, just one click on "skip to next choice" with "skip all text" enabled completed the route I had ended up in on my first run (Sorry Kanna), this was enough to unlock it. Suzune's route is pretty standard but it was overall very enjoyable, relatively peaceful and without big issues or drama. I would have preferred a little more reactions from the surroundings at the odd pairing but they complete each other well so that's good enough, and there's a bit of that in the after story which is okay. It also feels like Yuzusoft put some efforts in the ecchi scenes, both in length and quality, they were pretty good except for the protagonist's lines which felt a bit odd at times, detached and not really feeling his supposed excitement. Suzune's CV manages to fill the gap more than enough though.
I'll most likely go back to Kanna's route, hoping for some more Shinigami focus than in the common route, after playing the Amakano 2 demo.
