Visual Novel Cafe

[kzel]

Also tried out August’s newest title, currently in Akari's route after going finishing Elsa first, which was a major disappointement - was looking forward to some romance and character development but it ended rather suddenly. Is that the same for the other heroines? Sans Akari, since she seems to have lot of plot going on from what I can see.

How could you abandon Akari and go after Elsa first, you traitor! /joke. I've talked about it earlier but yes, all the heroines other than Akari have the same kind of route. Very little romantic development, one ecchi scene and some quick ichaicha, then everything gets miraculously solved in a short narrative. There's a still a bit of character development to be seen, Kanami standing up to Elsa felt very satisfying... At least there are also the four side-stories for a bit more icha-icha and ecchi scenes, but content-wise each route (Akari excepted) doesn't last much more than an hour, and I'm a pretty slow reader.

 

[Cubky]

How could you abandon Akari and go after Elsa first, you traitor! ...

Well taking it seriously, I didn't feel any real attachement (as the MC) to Akari at all. Since at that point MC was staying with Akari because it is his duty and nothing else. Those options available to run off with other heroines before also made the Elsa choice pretty easy to make.

I've talked about it earlier but yes, all the heroines other than Akari have the same kind of route. Very little romantic development, one ecchi scene and some quick ichaicha, then everything gets miraculously solved in a short narrative. ...

That is kind of sad but I see how having every route the lenght of Akari's be a problem.
Thanks for letting me know though, will probably just finish up with the game after going through Akari's route then. Not really much a fan of side-story-type scenes as they (in most VNs) feel too much disconnected from the main story (and each other).

 

[Kri]

Since this post isn't long enough already, let's throw in some of next month's releases as well. Here's what I'll be watching out for:

夏彩恋唄 : I kinda liked Studio Ryokucha's previous game はにかみ CLOVER, and this one doesn't look like it has any succubi in it, which is a definite plus. I'm not too fond of the fake lovers approach but why not. Finally : Akino Hana.

学校のセイイキ : I played both 彼女のセイイキ and 妹のセイイキ, and with Maika and Yaeka starring in this latest feng release, taken together it's getting close to approaching a full game's offering. I'll bet more are coming with at least 店員－ちゃん as a heroine. Story-wise it's not spectacular but I like the two previous ones, good enough and far above your average nukige.

枯れない世界と終わる花 : SWEET&TEA's first game, with a rather interesting premise that can go either nakige or comedy. With both Akino Hana and Kiritani Hana as CVs in the game, I'm in for a try either way.

スキとスキとでサンカク恋愛 : Asa Project's latest. I'll be blunt and say I'm not at all a fan of love-triangles and I hated the humor in Asa Project's previous プラマイウォーズ, but eh, why not...

Phew, that's about it.

My top choice of this month is definitely SweetTea's 枯れない世界と終わる花. Man that description seems really interesting + it has really great art & very great VAs as you mentioned. Well it may not the "safest" choice for me since I dont really like bittersweet endings / depressive stuff and I'm sure this game will have some of them in it, but still cant wait to try / or at least read some reviews about it.


Speaking of safest choice, probably it'll the Asaproject's game since I enjoyed almost all of their games (or common routes) and I think they can definitely pull off triangles with their humor even though I'm not a huge fan of that as well. Well gotta mention that almost all of their heroine routes in all of their games were suck though, lets hope that they actually improved themselves in that category this time.

Other than those two I'll play Alcot's new game since its Alcot, has nice art + voice actors as always and it has a blonde - loli - godness -mother of MC but actually a virgin heroine, seems legit. I really like their those very random themes, Naka no Hito nado Inai was very succesful and I'm hoping the same quality from this game as well.

I might try Studio Ryokucha's game as well if I have any free time after those three, but since the "fake lovers" thing is not my cup of tea I'll leave it to last.


Well that'll be enough for november I guess, but december seems awesome as hell, I have at least 5-6 "will definitely try" from that month.

 

[kzel]

Well taking it seriously, I didn't feel any real attachement (as the MC) to Akari at all. Since at that point MC was staying with Akari because it is his duty and nothing else. Those options available to run off with other heroines before also made the Elsa choice pretty easy to make.

That is kind of sad but I see how having every route the lenght of Akari's be a problem.
Thanks for letting me know though, will probably just finish up with the game after going through Akari's route then. Not really much a fan of side-story-type scenes as they (in most VNs) feel too much disconnected from the main story (and each other).

I don't blame you, Soujin and Akari's relationship doesn't really pick up until he recovers his memory from this past. While disappointing I don't think the game is made worse by focusing so much on Akari, but then again I knew it would be like that from the start so didn't have my hopes up for the other heroines. Since the branch-offs are so short I think they're worth looking over (Kanami... did I mention her already?). In the side-stories, there are also quick romances with Shino, Mutsumi and Koyuzu, each with their own ecchi scene. I only read Shino's so far but it was pretty funny.

Other than those two I'll play Alcot's new game since its Alcot, has nice art + voice actors as always and it has a blonde - loli - godness -mother of MC but actually a virgin heroine, seems legit. I really like their those very random themes, Naka no Hito nado Inai was very succesful and I'm hoping the same quality from this game as well.
[...]
Well that'll be enough for november I guess, but december seems awesome as hell, I have at least 5-6 "will definitely try" from that month.

Alcot's game, よめがみ, slipped past my review of this month's release, thanks for mentioning it. It looks very interesting indeed, CV cast looks good as well with personal favorites of mine Kusuhara Yui and Toono Soyogi. I'll admit the loli-goddess-virgin-mother heroine archetype is intriguing.

I haven't looked at December releases yet, but I'm going to spend time on Amakano+ for sure.

 

[Kri]

I haven't looked at December releases yet, but I'm going to spend time on Amakano+ for sure.

I'll count for you: First of all we have Amakano+ as you mentioned, then Akiyume Kukuru, Hoshi Furu Yoru no Farnese which have probably one of the best art of the year & very interesting theme and a "dog" heroine which is also the mother of other heroine, Axl's new game, A new game from Lass; Liber7, an interesting mystery themed game Shinsou Noise, AstralAir's FD, a new Horror game from Moonstone, Baldr Heart EXE, Two very cute games; Himekoi ＊ Sucreine and Hoshizora Tea Party , A new Hooksoft Game, Akabesoft's new knight themed game Ryuukishi Bloody†Saga, and lastly windmill's new game; Hatsukoi Sankaime.

And I didnt even count some minor games like Meguru Sekai de Towanaru Chikai(Studio e.go), Mamono Musume no Sodatekata(Vanadis), Koi wa Yumemiru(ChelseaSoft) etc. I'm not really sure why did all of them decided to release their games at december but whatever, I'm sure everyone can find at least one or two games which fit their tastes from this list.

 

[Mahou]

Amakano+ <3, Hatsukoi Sakaime: While I really adore windmill's sweet VNs their last MCs could have been a tick less dense. The level of Witch's Garden MC was quite good for me in that regard :D. AstralAir: I played the main game and found it in retrospec only "good enough", while it had some dang adorable characters (the elementary school NPC trio!). Some irking pacing issues here and there, fluctuating route quality IMHO, and the true route left me scratching my head. Still pending.
Hoshi Furu Yoru no Farnese looks interesting with an astrology attorney. I honestly don't like Princess Sugar's VNs as their MCs have been very, very hetare and dense based on the two titles I played.
Akiyume Kukuru, Axl's (even though the MC who apparently starts as a useless slacker isn't THAT appealing ) and Hoshizora Tea Party seem fine enough. The latter's 18+ edition as it contains every scenario from what I glimpsed over.

 

[kzel]

I see, that's quite the number of games to look forward to in December. Too bad that's paradoxically not a period I have the most free-time in due to Christmas, new year and stuff. I'll take an early look through the list even though some of the CV cast for some games is not yet announced and that tends to heavily influence my interest.

Amakano+ : pretty much must play, especially as I've just finished Koharu's route again in Amakano.

Akiyume Kukuru : sounds alright and Kiritani Hana's voicing a character, that's probably warranting a try.

Hoshi Furu Yoru no Farnese : the premise is interesting alright, and some mystery and investigation does indeed sound nice, but the trial part looks really weird. Make the right choices to strip the suspect (?) then once she's naked bring her to ecstasy by repeatedly clicking on the right part to reveal the constellation she hides (???)... I'll have to try but honestly that doesn't sound like my cup of tea.

王の耳には届かない！ : Axl's new game, of which I previously played あやかしコントラクト (it was a decent game). The MC was apparently part of some elite group of knights before getting sent back to the countryside, so I don't know if he'll be that useless.

Liber7 : I've only played 迷える2人とセカイのすべて from Lass before and it was... not the best. I also tend to have problems with protagonists with the ability to mind control or manipulate thoughts. Still, the battle-royale setting does look interesting, I tend to like these kind of stories so why not.

Shinsou Noise : sounds good, even though it's (again) a mind-reader protagonist, is it just me or does this trope just come up way too often these days? The art is characteristic, and Akino Hana's part of the CV cast, so I'll probably at least try it out. The deduction system looks interesting at the very least.

アストラエアの白き永遠 FD : I haven't played the base game as it wouldn't run properly on my laptop, so I'll probably give this one a pass as well.

仄暗き時の果てより : I liked Moonstone's previous サクラノモリ†ドリーマーズ so I'll probably give this one a shot. I like horror (but not hentai horror...), and Moonstone has shown that it can make some creepy scenes as long as it doesn't let things get too ridiculous.

Baldr Heart EXE : I haven't touched the Baldr Heart/Sky series yet, is it any good? Looks like there's some action gameplay in there, not sure my aging laptop will be able to run it.

Himekoi ＊ Sucreine : I think I played a little bit of 姫様ＬＯＶＥライフ！, Princess Sugar's previous title but I don't think I got very far. I can't remember why I stopped, maybe because of a donkan MC as Mahou mentioned. There's an occult club and some parallel worlds apparently, so why not?

星空TeaParty えくすとら ～ : I haven't played the all-age version of what looks like to be an 18+ FD for 星空TeaParty (Episode 1 out last August and Episode 2 coming out later this week). It's been a while since I heard Yahiro Mami in a game that wasn't awful so I might give it a shot despite the pretty low ratings the game has so far.

Amenity’s Life : I actually haven't played anything from Hooksoft yet. I generally dislike when heroines are not "human" but things or pets in shoujo form, so I'm not sure about this one.

Ryuukishi Bloody†Saga : I played the previous knights game, it was alright, I might give this one a chance as well. Lately, Akabei Soft3 is churning out like a game per month in very different styles so I really don't know what to think of the brand. Looks like the scenario is by the guy who wrote Sorairo Innocent, it was a decent game.

Hatsukoi Sankaime : another love triangle, that's not really my thing. Then again Windmill's previous game アンラッキーリバース wasn't too bad...

廻るセカイで永遠なるチカイを！ : a new RPG by Studio e.go!, it might make for a good distraction from the load of VN that come out. Sad to see the interesting enemy-position grid from Izumo disappear in favor of some more standard Dragon Quest-style battles, but oh well. There's apparently some monster (or youkai) capturing and raising elements as well.

魔物娘の育て方 ～ラミア＆ハーピー～ : not sure about this one, I'm not much into monster girls. Looks like some raising simulator like princess maker but with no info on the game's system that's just my guess (what does the AVG genre stands for?).

恋は夢見る妄烈ガール！ : The MC's special power is seeing erotic dreams of the girl he touches... sure. As comedy why not, but that's probably means lots of ecchi scenes in the common route with different girls, not something I appreciate.

Well, that's all I can say after a quick review of the titles mentioned. I'll take a look on Getchu next month to see if there's nothing else.

 

[jczs97]

Guys can you recommend me some good obacon eroges? So far i´ve played some of Complets, and i´ve loved them al, specially because of the drawing style, which is work of their main ex-artist called Mame. For the ones that know his stuff, can you recommend me some eroges with similar artstyle? For the ones that don´t, i would gadly accept any recommendations with obacon in it.

I post here because in the fetish corner there is nothing about obacon and noone responds there :P

 

[kzel]

@joseczs : sorry, I can maybe recommend some games with older heroines (teachers/store managers) but games focusing on that are not really my thing.

---

On to quick reviews of November's releases. Yes it's been four days since they're out but to my own astonishment I've already almost finished two.

First is 学校のセイイキ. I'm rather disappointed with it as it took a turn towards nukige more than the two previous feng releases. Having two heroines in the same game was probably why the scenario was so light and focused so much on ecchi once the couples are formed. Maika was a heroine I was interested in from the first game but her story felt pretty rushed, and the romance in particular was rather weak compared to Fuyuka or Yukana from the other セイイキ. Also, there a limits as to how obvious plot devices can get. Yaeka leaving on a convenient trip abroad just the day the couple is formed just screamed : "ok, plot is done, time for sex". Her overarching story of going back to her country is not developed too much, and in the end it's not a big deal anyway. Her mother was funny though, for what little appearances she made.

Yaeka's romance was even more of a mystery, since she doesn't have any particular episode that leads to that as Yukana had. She feels regret for neglecting her family so she fell in love with her younger brother who did care about his family and managed to save her younger sister..? She pledges to be a better older sister but she lets her brother boss her around and agrees to sex in various places that could get her fired and ruin both their lives..? Then decides that he would be better off with Yukana anyway..? Okay.

Also disappointing that tenin-chan doesn't provide much life advice in this one as the MC is already pretty set on what to do from the start. I know it's odd to expect much from the plot of a nukige, but the two previous games had something that this one doesn't, and that's a shame.

---

I've also almost finished 枯れない世界と終わる花, one if not my most anticipated title for this month. As the somewhat lower priced could have suggested, the game is pretty short : ~10 hours for the main story. I still have a few epilogues to complete but for the most part I think I've seen what the game has to offer, so here's some comments.

As with 千の刃濤、桃花染の皇姫, there's not really any heroine route to speak off, and most of icha-icha and sex scenes are to be found in after stories unrelated to the main scenario. As far as the main plot, the events unfold practically the same way whatever choices are made. Choosing a heroine means Shou will confess to her and have sex at the end of her episode, but after that it's back on rails for the rest of the story with not a single line of difference to account for the fact that a couple was formed, apart from being unable to confess to the other heroines of course. Is that better than Senmomo's way of quickly closing off the story after branching off, I'm not sure. I'd recommend staying neutral for the whole game, that makes the story make the most sense. Once the story is finished, it's always possible to go back to previous choices and choose an heroine, then make use of the handy "skip to next choice" function to go straight to the heroine's epilogue after the confession.

The game is trying to be a nakige but I found it hard to relate to the character for two reasons. First, the story doesn't take enough time introducing each character through daily slice-of-life events before switching to the drama. This is especially true for each chapter's "victim" who barely get any plot development, so it's hard to feel anything for them when it's time for them to die. Heroines themselves have potential but the story doesn't waste time and makes things move, reveals things too quickly. For that reason, each heroine's trust in Shou felt sudden and inappropriate rather than something he earned by interacting with them. Ren was probably the best of the four, as she has an impact in each chapter and is the one shown supporting Shou the most as the events unfold.

Second, the game is too quick to dismiss some very crucial details about the situation the character are in. I'm not going to spoil the whole story here, but the world's rules are never clearly explained. Why angels are needed, why is the world decaying, why are sacrifices needed, and critical things such as Shou's particular existence are never satisfyingly explained, which created a real disconnect from the character's plight. The ending in particular is a real letdown from a nakige standpoint as

Spoiler: light spoiler : ending

everything and anything gets miraculously solved without any sacrifice needed, where's my bitter-sweetness!

Still, the game managed to bring out of a few tears thanks to the combination of beautiful CGs, excellent CV cast and heavy piano soundtrack, but if only the story would have taken the time to properly set up the characters and the world it could have been so much more.

 

[Kri]

Spoiler: light spoiler : ending

everything and anything gets miraculously solved without any sacrifice needed, where's my bitter-sweetness!

Alright, that was what I wanted to read before jumping into game, now I'm starting it.

 

[Cubky]

I've also almost finished 枯れない世界と終わる花, one if not my most anticipated title for this month. As the somewhat lower priced could have suggested, the game is pretty short : ~10 hours for the main story.

Oh wow, I had a feeling things were going a bit too quickly and according to this I seem to be about half way through the VN, no surprises then! I was hoping for some kind of a more thorough route focused on each heroine after their individual stories. Well at least the CG and VA are top notch.

Spoiler: light spoiler : ending

everything and anything gets miraculously solved without any sacrifice needed, where's my bitter-sweetness!

As for this I am still recovering my resistances after 僕が天使になった理由 so that is a good thing.

 

[kzel]

Here are a few early comments about スキとスキとでサンカク恋愛, of which I played about half of (Shiina, Akane, Nanaru then Kara).

Contrary to Asa Project's previous game プラマイウォーズ, I don't find this new release as irritating, in large parts thanks to the absence of annoying characters like the queen bitch, the little brother and the parents. While the characters can get tiring after a few hours of reading, I find the humor suits me much better and I'll admit a few chuckles escaped my mouth as I progressed through the game. That is, when I actually get what the characters are referring to. The game bathes in otaku subculture and I'm afraid my level of otakuness is far too low to understand even half of the jokes and references. Since I don't watch anime, don't read much of the popular manga, but just play jrpgs and eroges I guess that was to be expected. The one character whose references I ended up getting the most was the loud and sometimes annoying Shiina. Since getting her jokes helped a lot in finding her funny, I went for her route first (also, testing whether she lied when she spoiled the choices to get to her route at the beginning of the game - hint : she didn't).

I'll be honest, the whole triangle relationship dragged the game down for me. The atmosphere of baka-sawagi gets often brutally interrupted by those awkward moments in which the characters look at the MC befriending the other parties and moping around in self-hatred/pity. "I'm not a worthy imouto", "I'm not a worthy friend", I'm still wondering what this drama is doing in this game in the first place as it doesn't at ALL fit the rest of it. It's not like the game will satisfy fans of love triangles either as there are no "duo" routes, eventually the MC has to settle for one and only one heroine. Once the MC is done with his confession, it's mostly ecchi scenes after ecchi scenes till the end credits, with the usual otaku jokes interspersed in between. Said ecchi scenes are on the very short side and tend to include many jokes as well, not the best way to get in the mood despite the good quality of the CGs.

Sub-characters Kara and Akane get a small route as well outside of the whole triangle drama. The introduction to these route is the laziest I've read in quite some time : the game literally says "stuff happened, and we hooked up". Kara's route rests entirely on Toono Soyogi's beautiful clear voice even though her accent gets a little old. Akane's route starts pretty well with a little lesson on fujoshi and BL, but the character's particularity doesn't have as much impact as I would have hoped. Not a single comment (or even appearance) from the other characters was a bit of a letdown.

Finally, the bookmark save system is unneeded and confusing, good old saves remain much better. Especially as scene selection can mess up the flags to get into specific routes...

 

[kzel]

Good news : hikibi-works is working on a new xCation game (details : http://blog.livedoor.jp/twode_perf/archives/67561461.html ), 新妻LOVELY×CATION

Better news : the setting switches to adult characters and features married life for at least half the game

Even better news : Iizuki Tasuku from LxC 1&2 is back!

Terribly depressing news : it's the final xCation game :(

 

[Mahou]

The final xCation is indeed quite unfortunate. But featuring married life is truly a change of pace from the normal school life. Hopefully its goes out with a positive bang within the series standards.
Edit: The split between pre and post marriage resembles tonework a bit in this aspect, so that's a plus in my book.

 

[kzel]

It took me longer than expected, but I'm finally done with スキとスキとでサンカク恋愛.

Previous points remain valid for the two routes I had left, Suzu and Maho. The love triangle is still treated both too lightly and too seriously at the same time.

They could have kept with the theme of the game and make the situations funny, with other the top jealousy from the other parties, open attacks and defense, the little of that that there is (mostly with Shiina) is actually nice. They instead chose to insist on making everyone remain friendly throughout the whole game, and go with a more contained, self-reflective way to handle things. Characters will keep wondering whether they are worthy, regret past actions, feel bad... maybe it's just me but I don't find that very funny.

Even worse is that this drama not only doesn't fit the rest of the game, but also isn't developed enough in between the various otaku jokes, not enough to make me feel much for the characters at any rate. It is however enough to break the "funny" mood. To be perfectly honest, it felt like a waste of text that would have been better used with some actual icha-icha, or even more otaku jokes. Even if I'm not getting the references, at least they don't shatter the mood.

As with the previous routes, once the couple is formed it's sex, a few jokes, more sex and end credits, not much relationship development to look for. Incestuous relationships (even when blood related) is apparently not an issue and marriage is all-okay. As for Maho's route, it was especially void of anything but sex scenes. Thankfully Shiina was there to make a few humorous comments, even during ecchi scenes.

---

I gave a quick try to 夏彩恋唄, but I'm dropping it after playing all the way to Hikaru's confession. The common route is mostly the MC and Yuna playing the fake lovers in the most ridiculously obvious ways while no-one notices. It's so obvious that instead of being funny, it just makes every other character look extremely dense and stupid, which is never a good thing. Romance-wise, Yuna is the only one that doesn't start in love with the protagonist but a few words and a quick trip to the game center is enough to fix this "minor" issue. My main problem with the game remains with the MC that is an especially serious case of donkan, pervert and yuujuufudan. The only moment I can say I enjoyed in the game was when Yuna called him out to scold him, as he was perfectly happy to abuse Hikaru's feelings while keeping his distances with her, calling her his sister or even his mom... I don't mind hetare but insensitive+indecisive is a combo I really can't stand.

---

I also played about an hour of よめがみ. The premise looked interesting but the abundance of shimoneta and lucky sukebe were enough to drop my interest considerably. Nether regions that shine when sexually excited..? We'll see if the game manages to catch back my attention.

 

[Kri]

Here are a few early comments about スキとスキとでサンカク恋愛, of which I played about half of (Shiina, Akane, Nanaru then Kara).

Contrary to Asa Project's previous game プラマイウォーズ, I don't find this new release as irritating, in large parts thanks to the absence of annoying characters like the queen bitch, the little brother and the parents. While the characters can get tiring after a few hours of reading, I find the humor suits me much better and I'll admit a few chuckles escaped my mouth as I progressed through the game. That is, when I actually get what the characters are referring to. The game bathes in otaku subculture and I'm afraid my level of otakuness is far too low to understand even half of the jokes and references. Since I don't watch anime, don't read much of the popular manga, but just play jrpgs and eroges I guess that was to be expected. The one character whose references I ended up getting the most was the loud and sometimes annoying Shiina. Since getting her jokes helped a lot in finding her funny, I went for her route first (also, testing whether she lied when she spoiled the choices to get to her route at the beginning of the game - hint : she didn't).

I'll be honest, the whole triangle relationship dragged the game down for me. The atmosphere of baka-sawagi gets often brutally interrupted by those awkward moments in which the characters look at the MC befriending the other parties and moping around in self-hatred/pity. "I'm not a worthy imouto", "I'm not a worthy friend", I'm still wondering what this drama is doing in this game in the first place as it doesn't at ALL fit the rest of it. It's not like the game will satisfy fans of love triangles either as there are no "duo" routes, eventually the MC has to settle for one and only one heroine. Once the MC is done with his confession, it's mostly ecchi scenes after ecchi scenes till the end credits, with the usual otaku jokes interspersed in between. Said ecchi scenes are on the very short side and tend to include many jokes as well, not the best way to get in the mood despite the good quality of the CGs.

Sub-characters Kara and Akane get a small route as well outside of the whole triangle drama. The introduction to these route is the laziest I've read in quite some time : the game literally says "stuff happened, and we hooked up". Kara's route rests entirely on Toono Soyogi's beautiful clear voice even though her accent gets a little old. Akane's route starts pretty well with a little lesson on fujoshi and BL, but the character's particularity doesn't have as much impact as I would have hoped. Not a single comment (or even appearance) from the other characters was a bit of a letdown.

Finally, the bookmark save system is unneeded and confusing, good old saves remain much better. Especially as scene selection can mess up the flags to get into specific routes...

This was the clearly worst title of the AsaProject for me, in almost every way. First of all, one of the Maho's VA or Character art choice was really really bad, those two definitely didnt match up with each other at all, and thanks to it every scene of maho felt kinda awkward.

Secondly, they used Breaking the Fourth Wall thing too often in this game, which made it very hard to take seriously. I actually like asaproject's those type of jokes, but when you use "hey you are the main heroine you cant do it" "hey you are the mc you know hehe" too much it just loses its originality.

Thirdly, the connection between mc and the heroines felt really sloppy in this one, completely different than their older games where they actually tried to create a ground for them; Hitotsu Tobashi or 0kilo. You can see that they made this one with a "Hey as long as we make a couple jokes and let mc fuck heroines its all green" mind, and of course having a simple "every heroine likes one otaku thing and mc enjoys all of them" setting made it even easier.

I can count way more of those, like how nanaru felt annoying even though she has a great VA or how they changed the classic save system into some unnecessary problematic thing etc, but I think everyone already got my feelings about the game. Well Shiina was a good heroine and common route wasn't that boring though, so its not all terrible at least.


Also seems like Hoshi Furu Yoru no Farnese got delayed into summer, well since they didnt release a single sample cg or sample voice yet I was kinda expecting it.

 

[kzel]

First of all, one of the Maho's VA or Character art choice was really really bad, those two definitely didnt match up with each other at all, and thanks to it every scene of maho felt kinda awkward.

I felt that too, especially as Ui does a very similar voice for Maho as she did for Eurasia in Noratoto. It was fine for a small, childish character, but as a rather calm (compared to the rest of the cast) onee-san character it was kinda odd. Also, she doesn't share the hayaguchi and tempo of the other characters which makes her stand out even more.

---

I just finished the Danganronpa 3 demo, and it's looking pretty solid. The cast is as crazy as ever with super talent as eclectic as super-magician, super-maid, super-robot or even super-astronaut. The protagonist is female this time (super-pianist), but that doesn't prevent the game from making quite heavy innuendos, especially through the very vulgar super-inventor (female too). The MC looks as usual to be the most normal of the bunch.

The trial parts see the addition of new minigames : a new block puzzle game, the surf is replaced by driving a car around (gathering cubes to reveal the question then running-over the girl with the right answer), the classic non-stop argument gets a few addition like the possibility to lie and some parts in which three characters talk at the same time (very confusing, I can already see myself having trouble with this one...).

The demo's story is full of 4th wall breaking and pretty funny (about 1~2hours if you read everything the characters have to say). It ends a bit abruptly and I fear we'll never really know who killed the victim. Unless the blood pattern on the knife and the brown short hair can really lead to the culprit..?

So far it looks pretty good, I'm just disappointed at Monokuma's new voice. Maybe little effort was put into voicing the demo, but I found it lacked the subtle sadistic and cruel tones that it previously had, for a performance that remains cutesy more than anything. I'll probably play it as it comes out, next month.

 

[kzel]

Harukaze released some details about the upcoming Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart 2 (temporary title). Two new heroines, an ice land princess (Iris) from the land of the dead and her extremely silent servant (Noel). They come down to the realm of mortals to take revenge on Patricia. The game will also include routes for previously sub-heroines Eurasia, Lucia and most importantly : Nobuchina! Last but not least, it will most likely also add a few daily life and ecchi scenes for each of the four main heroines of the previous game (Patricia, Yuuki, Shachi and Michi). Release planned for 2017.

More details here.

 

[Kri]

Harukaze released some details about the upcoming Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart 2 (temporary title). Two new heroines, an ice land princess (Iris) from the land of the dead and her extremely silent servant (Noel). They come down to the realm of mortals to take revenge on Patricia. The game will also include routes for previously sub-heroines Eurasia, Lucia and most importantly : Nobuchina! Last but not least, it will most likely also include a few daily life and ecchi scenes for each the four main heroines of the previous game (Patricia, Yuuki, Shachi and Michi). Release planned for 2017.

More details here.

Oh yeah I also saw it yesterday, To be honest I didnt really like two new heroines but getting new routes for those three and of course new scenes for older heroines are pretty exciting. As I mentioned before I really liked all the heroines and generally the entire game so I'm definitely looking forward for it. Well routes (specially Asahura and Sachi) had some problems so if they can fix them with some proper after stories or whatever they're going to write it'd be more awesome for sure.

 

[Veshurik]

Harukaze released some details about the upcoming Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart 2 (temporary title).[/URL].

Oh, yeah. Also, anime will release at Spring 2017, I guess. Very interesting. But already a one year later - and we have a sequel. Wah, Japanese are really working so hard and fast? Nice.
By the way, they said something about possible English version release, but still no news about that. Maybe, with anime adaptation? Would be cool to see Noratoto on Steam, for example.

 

[kzel]

Here are a few early comments on some of December's releases. I haven't had time to complete a game yet, Christmas being busy with all the cooking and the mountains of dishes to wash, but here goes anyway :

アマカノ+ : I only completed Koharu's route, and will wait until I've replayed the other's route in the original Amakano for the rest. It's a good continuation of the first game but alas, it's oh so very short! A quick trip to the hot springs, a few marriage preparations, and we're done! Drama? Character development? Not much of that here, just a few hours of icha-icha and five ecchi scenes. Here I was expecting something closer to a tonework's after story, it's quite the disappointment. I can only hope the other heroines fared a bit better.

Amenity's Life : completed only Naru's route so far. The game gives off a very SMEE vibe, but with its chapters even more sudden and its story more hashed up. It can be kinda funny, and I appreciate that the personification of objects in the end doesn't play that big a role (in what I played so far, no doubt it does in Maho's route at least). I'll keep playing, probably going for Kanade next.

 

[Mahou]

Amakano+: I'm going for Sayuki first and definitely appreciate the option to let the girls say the default MC name, instead of danna-sama etc. Never expected there to be drama, tbh, so it should be spot on for me. Was nice to see the apperance of Reika and Yuzuka :).

Amenity's Life: To be honest, it hasn't gotten my interest now as the setting didn't click rightaway with me (i. e. the personified objects). But seeing as I usually still end up playing hooksoft's titles, it may be only a matter of time *lol*.

Hatsukoi Sankaime: I only dipped into the first few minutes, but something that was "meh" during my first glance at getchu already is that the heroines - except of Emiliya - looked somehow quite similar. Oh yeah, and Yurino's uneasiness with (other) males (男嫌い) is REALLY not much hinted after it had been mentioned once in a scene with the MC. Okaaay... ... ... Oh well, let's see if I'm able to get back in the the (full) VN "groove"

I'll wait for some impressions before deciding on axl's 王の耳には届かない！

 

[kzel]

Amenity's Life: To be honest, it hasn't gotten my interest now as the setting didn't click rightaway with me (i. e. the personified objects). But seeing as I usually still end up playing hooksoft's titles, it may be only a matter of time *lol*.

I've been somewhat busy, but I'm also having a bit of a hard time finding the motivation to continue playing it as well. I'm not sure the personified objects setting was needed as it's not used at all for what I've seen so far (Mikuri, Kanade, Miki up to confession, and Naru's route).

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It's a new year, and what better way to start a new year but with more of the same from last year! Without further ado, more eroge impressions, this time about 廻るセカイで永遠なるチカイを！.

So far I've only completed one of the three routes (Mafuyu), but a quick glance at the CG collection screen makes me think the main plot will not diverge much whatever path is chosen. The game remains fairly light-hearted for most of its story, with a few more heavy passages by the end (but nothing too noteworthy). It's essentially the story of a guy and four priestess running around town solving various youkai (or kaii as the games like to call them) related issues. Each mission is its own little self-contained story, some of them can be humorous but many of them overstay their welcome a bit too much. The overarching story is a fairly standard one, with a heavy emphasis on choice in its later parts that turns out to be meaningless : choose wrong and it's just game over. I wish more games took Tales of Xillia 2's example and let their players continue on with the choices they made, however wrong they seem.

The heroines are fairly standard, with the old sister type Akiho, the energetic same-age Minatsu and the mysterious and silent younger Mafuyu. Having only played the latter, her story is alright, nothing too exciting or tear-bringing but it fits the light atmosphere of the game. Her speech can be kinda funny, as she insists on not using katakana words but uses obscure literal Japanese translations in their place. Reading the text makes these words' meaning easy to grasp but in a spoken conversation I suppose it would be as difficult to follow as the others characters make it out to be. I found the CGs to be alright but of low resolution, and the ero scenes contain male voice acting... I suppose Nayuta's voice (the MC) can be muted but I don't think they're worth the effort anyway.

The battle system is a fairly standard, Dragon-Quest-like dungeon crawler. The "awakening" system to learn skills felt rather useless most of the time. I would have preferred learning skills the old fashioned way by leveling up, and later on it's faster to just keep buying them at the dojo. Battles are easy for most of the game, with a small difficult spike by the fourth chapters as random encounters get quite tricky and exhausting in MPs. In the last few missions in particular, fleeing all of them is by far the best option. Bosses are usually easily dealt with by using group buffs and just dishing out damage, not special trick required even up to the last one.

The game's monster catching part is alright, and it's nice that it lets you spend "blessings" to level up the lower level catches. Still, most of the bestiary is more or less the same in terms of stats and skills, and since you'll probably want a Lightning and Earth type to complete the group and cover all elements anyway, the choices turn out to be rather limited. Rebuilding the temple is easy and doesn't give much room for creativity or inspiration, as it consists mainly of just buying the best upgrades as they get available.

All in all, a fair little RPG but ultimately unremarkable.

 

[Kri]

I'll wait for some impressions before deciding on axl's 王の耳には届かない！

I've read only one route so far, but unfortunately its one of their worst games imo. First of all, the "Lets increase the numbers h-scenes and put less work in the heroine routes" idea didnt work for sure. I mean their heroine routes were already weak to begin with, now its even worse, which is a not good thing. Also they definitely didnt put work to the common route & Character relationships as much as their older games, which literally took away their best speciality. Yeah having an assassin MC is cool and nice, but you gotta pay attention to the heroines as well, 3 of them felt like strangers even at the end of common route. Having a "wanna be friends" event or defeating her father isn't enough to jump from total strangers to the lovers AXL-san.

Well in the end it still have the AXL-game atmosphere so its not that terrible, but its certainly worse than Ayakashi Contract imo, and definitely nowhere near to Racial Merge.

 

[Mahou]

Meh, indeed, this doesn't sound very appealing. I read rather average things about Racial Merge from some jp. reviews a long time ago, but haven't given it really a honest shot. I quite enjoyed Dolphin Divers. I agreed with you Ayakashi Contract before so there's not much to say in that regard.
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I have played further into Yurino's route of 初恋サンカイメ. It has its charm, but I don't know if I put it on the same level as some of windmill's prior titles. Anyway, Yurino's pretty much an obvious heroine choice based on the common route and premisse.

Spoiler: Yurino - small spoiler

I found it a bit annoying the way Taichi chickened out of his first confession attempt

and the short dramatic period that happend afterwards (but was not limited to Yurino).
And while I like Rin herself, I have mixed feelings with how they implemented her due to what is implied to be her connection to Misaki, who hasn't appeared at all so far. Based on Emiliya's after story she seems to show up at some point. Well, I guess I just assumed Misaki to be there from the beginning as a classmate because I got that impression from her character description.