I'm looking for people to talk about the LuckyDog1 series (r18 bl)

[testeeee]

hey idk if its the right place for this kind of post but i discovered this game and all its spin offs recently and I'm more than obsessed so i'm desperate to talk about it with others basically
i played the original game (eng translation), as well as the switch ver and the sequels Secret diary and Bad egg. Also spin offs like Lucky happy life, gian no tame, rakido mania. I have yet to do Mr.Giancarlo
my fav pairing is Gian with Luchino, wbu?
anyway pls pls pls if you played these games or one of them send me a message here or you can private message me too i'd loooove to rant about the series

 

[Fishish]

I played the original game and am currently reading throught bad egg for the first time and loving it! (probably even more than the og game considering how much more fleshed out Gian feels while keeping his general sass intact)

Im liking Bakshi a lot more than I anticipated as well as Gian's general new crew XD. Im with you liking Luchino best in the first game but I also loved Bernardo and Bakshi is quickly rising in ranks (I actually anticipate he'll be my favourite apart from gian by the end).

 

[testeeee]

I played the original game and am currently reading throught bad egg for the first time and loving it! (probably even more than the og game considering how much more fleshed out Gian feels while keeping his general sass intact)

Im liking Bakshi a lot more than I anticipated as well as Gian's general new crew XD. Im with you liking Luchino best in the first game but I also loved Bernardo and Bakshi is quickly rising in ranks (I actually anticipate he'll be my favourite apart from gian by the end).

yaaaay !!! i loved bad egg sm too, the scenario was on point. The prison part is so great too!! i love that we had more immersion and a better view of how all the tricks worked
i'm happy we got to see more of the very badass gian, he shines even more on bad egg
same, i wasn't hyped about bakshi at all. I still don't like the gian x bakshi pairing (mostly because of what he does to gian at the beginning of rockwell arc + i dont wish for gian to become a GD guy) but bakshi as a character was more interesting than i anticipated. His way of speaking is so unique, never heard that in any other japanese dubbed medium. His voice actor did an amazing job (same for the new voice actor of Gian).

Thank you for liking Luchino too!! To me it was obvious he is the best out of all (in general but also for Gian) but i saw several people online saying he was plain which i strongly disagree to. What i loved about him is that he doesnt fit the usual "alpha male" trope, and he has been very caring of gian since the beginning. And what i love about this relationship is that even before entering the Luchino route you can feel that Gian is already attracted to him, and then in the Luchino route you have a lot of very spot on descriptions of a physical attraction growing more and more on Gians side, if you know what i mean? Also, although not perfect on this, it's the only route where the first H scene is a mutual consent.
+ obviously, Luchinos voice actor has an amazing voice and did a great job
I feel you for Bernardo. At first he was my least fav so i did his route last but i was sooo surprised because his route is very good (my fave scenario wise) and also now Bernardo x Gian is my second fav pairing. I do hate how the first H scene was handled tho, as well as the (no)consequences ? I find it so unpleasing and outofcharacter tbh.

did you play the after story routes of bad egg?

 

[CigaretteWolf]

wahhhh omg i really wanted to play this game (in japanese) but couldnt find any switch roms or downloads for it :( how is it???

 

[BLFan]

I played almost all.. 5 Luckydog games, but I still haven't played the spin-offs. Something else worth mentioning is Yura's design, which also has a lot of BL games. If you played Luckydog, you can't miss her BL games. By the way, the Switch version is here at A-S, and I also uploaded many of the LD artbooks and games. Also play Omerta and Omega Vampire You won't regret it..I also played all 100%. My favorite route in Omerta is the one with my dog Kiryuu. Well, that's a separate topic, but I'll mention it here.

My favorites are Bakshi, Ivan, and Giulio. They're so gay. I really laughed a lot at their interactions with Gian. Gian and JJ are my favorite BL characters. They'll always be in my top 5 xD

 

[Fishish]

yaaaay !!! i loved bad egg sm too, the scenario was on point. The prison part is so great too!! i love that we had more immersion and a better view of how all the tricks worked
i'm happy we got to see more of the very badass gian, he shines even more on bad egg
same, i wasn't hyped about bakshi at all. I still don't like the gian x bakshi pairing (mostly because of what he does to gian at the beginning of rockwell arc + i dont wish for gian to become a GD guy) but bakshi as a character was more interesting than i anticipated. His way of speaking is so unique, never heard that in any other japanese dubbed medium. His voice actor did an amazing job (same for the new voice actor of Gian).

Thank you for liking Luchino too!! To me it was obvious he is the best out of all (in general but also for Gian) but i saw several people online saying he was plain which i strongly disagree to. What i loved about him is that he doesnt fit the usual "alpha male" trope, and he has been very caring of gian since the beginning. And what i love about this relationship is that even before entering the Luchino route you can feel that Gian is already attracted to him, and then in the Luchino route you have a lot of very spot on descriptions of a physical attraction growing more and more on Gians side, if you know what i mean? Also, although not perfect on this, it's the only route where the first H scene is a mutual consent.
+ obviously, Luchinos voice actor has an amazing voice and did a great job
I feel you for Bernardo. At first he was my least fav so i did his route last but i was sooo surprised because his route is very good (my fave scenario wise) and also now Bernardo x Gian is my second fav pairing. I do hate how the first H scene was handled tho, as well as the (no)consequences ? I find it so unpleasing and outofcharacter tbh.

did you play the after story routes of bad egg?

Yes ive played the after stories! once again im biased and like luchinos best and actually surprisingly I found benardos most boring! (did my boi dirty in the after story but at least they were still sweet to each other XD) Gian picking the full displeased wife act for Luchinos after story was pretty funny, man wants to act tough but he just wants a comitment god damn it!

I didnt actually know people thought Luchino was boring! I know that ivan and Gulio are more popular but I always thought Luchino was the most put together plus I find it fun how whenever he shows up Gian is always like "hot lion man, big tall alpha me like" (how the man doesnt know hes bi is amazing to me concidering he did that both in the og and fan disks of the game SPECIFICALLY for Luchino).

In regards to bad egg I absolutely love everything about the extended story and how Gian kinda feels like he copes through his humour and attitude during stressful scenes all the while in his head going "oh shit oh shit". Boy also has a habbit of putting his foot in his mouth and saying exactly what he shouldent which I think is endeaing XD. I think i love the GD speciffically because of all the new characters + how unhinged bakshi is, they legit feel like proper street bums rather than the more controlled chaos of the CR5! Plus it means that Gian is taking a more active role as leader rather than following the other bosses around like in the original. And yes I love the voice acting! Gian is a lot softer in bad egg I cant help but hearing clear sometimes since they share voices but he does a fantastic job XD.

 

[ishibashi]

I played the original *ages* ago and loved it! Haven't played Bad Egg even after all this time though....

Luchino was my favourite back then followed by Ivan! I actually liked Gulio least...he's a little bit *too* besotted. Luchino was a laugh riot and I think it makes the most sense why they kind of tumbled into bed together?

(He's the route for the artist's fav kink too so you can feel her bias.)

 

[testeeee]

aaah omg i'm sooo happy to have several people wanting to talk about this series !! i'll reply to every message later today or tomorrow

 

[testeeee]

wahhhh omg i really wanted to play this game (in japanese) but couldnt find any switch roms or downloads for it :( how is it???

hey! do you mean you want to play the switch version of the game ? or the original pc game in japanese ?
i think both can be found on here tbh but i think theres a bug nowadays where new members like us can't see the download forum subjects...
but anyways yes i would 100% recommend ! i'd advise to play the pc version because the switch version is a version of the pc game but without some scenes (even if a few are added) so theres less content. It's the H scenes that were cut off, but theres some character development in them that were then cut off as well which is a shame imo

 

[testeeee]

I played almost all.. 5 Luckydog games, but I still haven't played the spin-offs. Something else worth mentioning is Yura's design, which also has a lot of BL games. If you played Luckydog, you can't miss her BL games. By the way, the Switch version is here at A-S, and I also uploaded many of the LD artbooks and games. Also play Omerta and Omega Vampire You won't regret it..I also played all 100%. My favorite route in Omerta is the one with my dog Kiryuu. Well, that's a separate topic, but I'll mention it here.

My favorites are Bakshi, Ivan, and Giulio. They're so gay. I really laughed a lot at their interactions with Gian. Gian and JJ are my favorite BL characters. They'll always be in my top 5 xD

by 5 LD1 games you mean LD1, bad egg, secret diary L and F, and which one ?
thank you btw!! i think a lot of the LD1 games i downloaded were from you hahaha
can you send the link for the artbooks maybe ? apparently theres drama cds that are good too (spring/summer chance etc) idk if you have those too?

ah i've heard about omerta! ill probably pause the mafia stories for some time because it has been quite intense for me but ill maybe play these games some day

Yes i see what you mean, a lot of interactions of Gian with Ivan and Bakshi made me laugh
One thing i like about Bakshi is that once he is in love with Gian he doesnt care about societal expectations and is very vocal about his love. On the other hand, Ivan is the only one out of all the cast who never said to Gian (or to himself) that he is in love with him, but keeps calling him his "pal" or "best friend" instead. Considering that the story takes place in the 1930s and that Ivan was vehemently homophobic it makes sense to have this cognitive dissonance tho (it just makes me sad for Gian ;( )

 

[testeeee]

I played the original *ages* ago and loved it! Haven't played Bad Egg even after all this time though....

Luchino was my favourite back then followed by Ivan! I actually liked Gulio least...he's a little bit *too* besotted. Luchino was a laugh riot and I think it makes the most sense why they kind of tumbled into bed together?

(He's the route for the artist's fav kink too so you can feel her bias.)

ah omg you should def play bad egg!! the scenario is amazing, a lot of times i was like ??? if it wasnt a BL it would be a very popular shonen/seinen series
you could even skip all the H scenes with Bakshi if you want, its only like 1% of the game anyway

Same for me for Giulio. i liked his character better in the common route but once you step in his route his personality shifts and he becomes too... too much ? Also it doesnt make sense to me was he was able to keep his composure around Gian in the prison/escape part but then becomes unable to talk properly in the daivan part. I liked his voice but once he started... talking... like... this... it... was... so... annoying.... yep. And i dont like the fact that theres too much of a power imbalance in his relationship with Gian. Gian has all power over Giulio + i dont think Giulio fits Gians personality (like, he is too sassy to be with someone like Giulio). And well, i dont like what happens in the first H scene

I knew it. I knew that someone from the staff def had to have a piss kink... its in too many of the games for it to be a coincidence. Im very unhappy it was in Luchinos route tho because Gian said he didnt want that, and Luchino was the only one from the cast to not have had forced himself on Gian... so i was very mad when it happened
I knew yura s fave scene was luchino confronting alessandro but i didnt know this ! did she say who her fave capo is ?

happy to see another fellow luchino biais anyway!

 

[testeeee]

Yes ive played the after stories! once again im biased and like luchinos best and actually surprisingly I found benardos most boring! (did my boi dirty in the after story but at least they were still sweet to each other XD) Gian picking the full displeased wife act for Luchinos after story was pretty funny, man wants to act tough but he just wants a comitment god damn it!

I didnt actually know people thought Luchino was boring! I know that ivan and Gulio are more popular but I always thought Luchino was the most put together plus I find it fun how whenever he shows up Gian is always like "hot lion man, big tall alpha me like" (how the man doesnt know hes bi is amazing to me concidering he did that both in the og and fan disks of the game SPECIFICALLY for Luchino).

In regards to bad egg I absolutely love everything about the extended story and how Gian kinda feels like he copes through his humour and attitude during stressful scenes all the while in his head going "oh shit oh shit". Boy also has a habbit of putting his foot in his mouth and saying exactly what he shouldent which I think is endeaing XD. I think i love the GD speciffically because of all the new characters + how unhinged bakshi is, they legit feel like proper street bums rather than the more controlled chaos of the CR5! Plus it means that Gian is taking a more active role as leader rather than following the other bosses around like in the original. And yes I love the voice acting! Gian is a lot softer in bad egg I cant help but hearing clear sometimes since they share voices but he does a fantastic job XD.

Bernardos after story is too similar to the original game imo, maybe thats why ? But yes otherwise their moments together were very cute !!
Im not a fan of Giulio so i skipped some parts of his after story but i loved the ending.
I think the one which was done dirty in the after story is Ivan. The first part is good and the scenario is fine too, but... theres no spark ? I think it lacked cute moments. Also, its sad that we get to know that gian would like Ivan to do more foreplay, which he doesnt do :( again i think it works character wise but gian deserves to get treated better.
Ah yes i loved that jealous act of Gian. And that ending... its just perfect !! dunno how i feel about the kid having the same name as youknowwho tho

Yes i was surprised too but i saw several reviews online saying they werent fans of Luchino. I know Ivan and Giulio are the most popular but to me they are the ones that dont go well with Gian ;( I like them best when they arent in a relationship with him. Im not a giulio fan but i do like Ivan as a character tho, seeing his "who will dominate the other" game with Gian was very untertaining, same with Gian making fun of him. And his hospital scenes make me weak.. ;;(

Its true that depending on which route you are in the og game you dont always get to see the very badass and leader side of Gian. You see it in Secret diary tho because it happens after he becomes boss ! bad egg gave us more of that which is great. And indeed, having the story played in a more gangster way than before was what missing in the former games
basically in LD1 Gian learns the jobs slowly, and in bad egg he is just thrown into the leaders seat and finds his way however he can

For the DG dudes i like them, but its a little sad that each of them is supposed to be one of the capos ? Personality and skill wise, and they even were subordinates of said capo
I still like them but the similarites are too obvious

daaamn i played dmmd back in 2012 so i didnt remember clears voice haha its funny to know its the same guy who voices them

 

[Fishish]

Bernardos after story is too similar to the original game imo, maybe thats why ? But yes otherwise their moments together were very cute !!
Im not a fan of Giulio so i skipped some parts of his after story but i loved the ending.
I think the one which was done dirty in the after story is Ivan. The first part is good and the scenario is fine too, but... theres no spark ? I think it lacked cute moments. Also, its sad that we get to know that gian would like Ivan to do more foreplay, which he doesnt do :( again i think it works character wise but gian deserves to get treated better.
Ah yes i loved that jealous act of Gian. And that ending... its just perfect !! dunno how i feel about the kid having the same name as youknowwho tho

Yes i was surprised too but i saw several reviews online saying they werent fans of Luchino. I know Ivan and Giulio are the most popular but to me they are the ones that dont go well with Gian ;( I like them best when they arent in a relationship with him. Im not a giulio fan but i do like Ivan as a character tho, seeing his "who will dominate the other" game with Gian was very untertaining, same with Gian making fun of him. And his hospital scenes make me weak.. ;;(

Its true that depending on which route you are in the og game you dont always get to see the very badass and leader side of Gian. You see it in Secret diary tho because it happens after he becomes boss ! bad egg gave us more of that which is great. And indeed, having the story played in a more gangster way than before was what missing in the former games
basically in LD1 Gian learns the jobs slowly, and in bad egg he is just thrown into the leaders seat and finds his way however he can

For the DG dudes i like them, but its a little sad that each of them is supposed to be one of the capos ? Personality and skill wise, and they even were subordinates of said capo
I still like them but the similarites are too obvious

daaamn i played dmmd back in 2012 so i didnt remember clears voice haha its funny to know its the same guy who voices them

Yeah maybe that's the reason Bernardo's fell a bit flat for me but it could have also of been because they spent more time apart than interacting like in the other side story routes. Ivan is a love hate character for me. Arguably I think he is one of the funniest and I think his clashing with Gian is very typical of the young bromance they have going on as gangsters but I also agree that he spends too much time denying what he has going on with Gian to make himself feel better all the while Gian is like "???" XD. Giulio is my least favourite overall which is disappointing because he has some interesting elements to his character like the entire idea of a dodgy upbringing within the Mafia and a overbearing attachment to Gian but I felt it was under-utilised and also Gian was overly forgiving and passive towards Giulio's behaviour which felt a bit off character wise. Luchino and Bernardo have the most natural feeling romances to me, like with Bernardo he actually starts off as a friend so there is already some history and dynamic between them and with luchino he's the most ready to actually teach and mentor Gian and believe in his ability to become leader which means that those two felt like they had the healthiest relationships. I don't normally care within yaoi how healthy a relationship is but I do care about character synergies, growth and dynamics which is why I probably like Giulio the least since they changed the least between the beginning and end of the game and why I like Bakshi despite him starting off as an ass.

I definitely like the scenario and characterisation within bad egg over the original game. Seeing Gians relationship with some of the other prison mates, particularly Simon were fantastic and it lead to him being able to very rarely show a vulnerable side of himself after being put through some of the rougher parts of the story that added to Gian beyond his initial "happy go lucky" demeanour which I loved! When I first began reading bad egg I was actually really pleasantly surprised and impressed at how willing the writers were to explore some of the darker aspects of prison life and abuse and even some of the mental health impacts of those events! I guess because of that It makes more sense within bad egg that he's more "ready" to take on a leaders mantle because he's just so done and worn down by the time he reaches Divan XD.

I definitely see the parallels between the new people and the original captains but I think as solo characters they are still interesting since you see them rise from the bottom up if that makes sense! (Plus the assassin character is so much more bearable to listen to over Giulio unfortunately). They seem to have a better feeling "team" dynamic with Gian than the original group in the first game since they actually joined under his banner rather than Gian just suddenly being told "your the leader now!" And all of the other captains just having to deal with that. It was super nice to see them getting along together during non work activities like sharing food and them looking out for each other when confronting the CR5 captains. In the original it felt more focused on just the route characters where as I feel like within bad egg the side characters experience as much growth and screen time as Bakshi making the whole picture more fulfilling. (This also includes the CR5 captains themselves when they had their own little "perspective" sections)

I haven't played any of the other fan disks yet unfortunately but perhaps some of them are better at fleshing out "leader of the mafia" Gian than the after stories in bad egg were. I'm looking forward to continuing it that's for sure, I'm like already 40 hours through and it feels like I have HEAPS to go.

It's also been a while since I've read Dmmd but clears voice will forever be memorable to me, since they share a voice it definitely makes me want to see Gian in a certain pink frilly apron XD.

 

[BLFan]

by 5 LD1 games you mean LD1, bad egg, secret diary L and F, and which one ?
thank you btw!! i think a lot of the LD1 games i downloaded were from you hahaha
can you send the link for the artbooks maybe ? apparently theres drama cds that are good too (spring/summer chance etc) idk if you have those too?

ah i've heard about omerta! ill probably pause the mafia stories for some time because it has been quite intense for me but ill maybe play these games some day

Yes i see what you mean, a lot of interactions of Gian with Ivan and Bakshi made me laugh
One thing i like about Bakshi is that once he is in love with Gian he doesnt care about societal expectations and is very vocal about his love. On the other hand, Ivan is the only one out of all the cast who never said to Gian (or to himself) that he is in love with him, but keeps calling him his "pal" or "best friend" instead. Considering that the story takes place in the 1930s and that Ivan was vehemently homophobic it makes sense to have this cognitive dissonance tho (it just makes me sad for Gian ;( )

Yes LD1, bad egg, secret diary L and F, and mr giancarlo by the way the links of the CD dramas of LD I plan to upload them when I can
About Omerta, it's a pretty intense game and it's great that you can take a break between mafia games xD but it's definitely worth it
I'm currently playing HolicWorks games.. it's my next step. Those games are full of NSFW content too

 

[testeeee]

Yes LD1, bad egg, secret diary L and F, and mr giancarlo by the way the links of the CD dramas of LD I plan to upload them when I can
About Omerta, it's a pretty intense game and it's great that you can take a break between mafia games xD but it's definitely worth it
I'm currently playing HolicWorks games.. it's my next step. Those games are full of NSFW content too

tyy for the uploads ! cant wait for the drama cds!!
for mr.giancarlo i started it but i dont really understand, is it only very short stories divided in parts ? and without any cg ?
i clicked on a few stories but they didnt seem to bring much to the table, it doesnt seem like a sequel or anything. Is the "additional scenario" thing worth a read?

 

[testeeee]

Yeah

I will reply to the first paragraph later ! but ill answer the rest now


The prison part is actually my fave part i think! Daivan part is close second tho, but some parts were a little too long
Yeah Gians mental health going downhill already started in the prison part, his brain chemistry already got modified because of the abuse here. The morgue thing was quite something, it felt as if i were here too... The end of the prison arc is truly amazing, but its an hard watch. Gian lost so much in such a short period of time that it makes more sense why he would decide to betray others
Tbh they coulve made a whole game out of the prison part itself haha

For the DG guys i agree it was nice to see them bonding as a group under gian as a leader and having regular moments. I would have loved to have that for cr5 more too, but this is in secret diary at least ! also i think cr5 accepted gian being boss fast because well both bernardo and giulio love gian so they have a heavy biais, luchino was ok with it since he trusted gian and he didnt want to become capo himself, so only ivan was left to convince (and he wasnt shy about voicing his disagreement haha)
i also appreciated that they gave personal backgrounds to the dg guys! they didnt feel that much as filler charcaters by the time the story progressed
i was sooo impatient to get to the part where you meet the capos again in bad egg, thats one of the parts of the game thats very well done imo : it had me keep playing a lot and i got very hyped whenever we were going to have a scene with one capo (even Giulio who im not a fan of). Couldnt help but want that big confrontation and hear what they think of Gians betrayal haha
Also having sprites for some minor characters was a literal game changer : i didnt even realize that simon was also in the original LD1 game since he didnt have any sprite...

do you mean you played bad egg for 40 hours ?
for secret diary i think some stories arent that interesting and some are more fanservice than an actual addition to the world, but some def have very good content so i can recommand them. Theres even some that are between LD1 and the after stories of bad egg!

 

[Fishish]

The prison part is actually my fave part i think! Daivan part is close second tho, but some parts were a little too long

Depending on who the focus was for the particular moment i didnt mind some of the longer parts of the game. Gians internal monalog is pretty entertaining even if not much is happening scenario wise and it gave a bit of breathing room bettween the action scenes but parts of rockwell and Divan are certainly a bit overexplained XD. Im forgiving towards the prison part because I found it overly interesting and i was initually quite surpised by Bakshis attitude shift.

do you mean you played bad egg for 40 hours ?
for secret diary i think some stories arent that interesting and some are more fanservice than an actual addition to the world, but some def have very good content so i can recommand them. Theres even some that are between LD1 and the after stories of bad egg!

The game is huge and yeah ive been playing only bad egg for around 40 hours (with the side stories included and it does take longer to translate it from japanese to english) which is longer than I spent on the entire original. Its amazing that each ark feels like it could be its entire own seperate visual novel, they certainly put the energy into expansion of the story. Ill need to try out secret diary after I finish bad egg, I dont mind some good fan content and CGs, honestly after bad egg ill probably welcome the breather XD.

Yeah Gians mental health going downhill already started in the prison part, his brain chemistry already got modified because of the abuse here. The morgue thing was quite something, it felt as if i were here too... The end of the prison arc is truly amazing, but its an hard watch. Gian lost so much in such a short period of time that it makes more sense why he would decide to betray others

Also having sprites for some minor characters was a literal game changer : i didnt even realize that simon was also in the original LD1 game since he didnt have any sprite...

I also thought the morge part was intense! I love darker stories so it was a treat for me and unexpected considering while the overal permise and theme of the original was dark they didnt delve to much into the specifics since in Gians perspective it was always downplayed (ah my happy go lucky boy downplaying trauma). It was interesting how they gave Gian the potentual of another option, of being able to lead a more normal life and have someone he could consider family only to rip them away in the worst way possible and they picked a character that was little more than a passing mention in the original story to play that role! Its really a kind of "knock him down, build him back up" kind of scenario and its cool to see that actually reflected in some of his other decisions and feelings (like with the betrayal and further aversion to touch).

i was sooo impatient to get to the part where you meet the capos again in bad egg, thats one of the parts of the game thats very well done imo : it had me keep playing a lot and i got very hyped whenever we were going to have a scene with one capo (even Giulio who im not a fan of). Couldnt help but want that big confrontation and hear what they think of Gians betrayal haha

Yeah I was with Gian when they first got to Divan being like "dude where are the captians?" so it was cool to see the payoff of that and how each of the captians were being fucked over in different ways XD. Plus by that point in the story they hadent been seen in AGES so it was good to see their new sprites pop up!

 

[Fishish]

Yes LD1, bad egg, secret diary L and F, and mr giancarlo by the way the links of the CD dramas of LD I plan to upload them when I can
About Omerta, it's a pretty intense game and it's great that you can take a break between mafia games xD but it's definitely worth it
I'm currently playing HolicWorks games.. it's my next step. Those games are full of NSFW content too

Omg some of the holicWorks games are great fun! Ive read Taishou Mebiusline and its fandisk which are my favourite of what they've made!

I read the majority of Tokyo satsujinki but it had a lot of religious termanology that I really struggled to translate so im not sure I fully understood it. I bought Tokyo 24 of theirs recently so it'll be the next one I play once I finish some of my other backlog XD.

 

[ishibashi]

Omg some of the holicWorks games are great fun! Ive read Taishou Mebiusline and its fandisk which are my favourite of what they've made!

I read the majority of Tokyo satsujinki but it had a lot of religious termanology that I really struggled to translate so im not sure I fully understood it. I bought Tokyo 24 of theirs recently so it'll be the next one I play once I finish some of my other backlog XD.

I love Taishou Mebiusline and Tokyo Satsujinki! Secret: I actually translated the common route for Mebiusline a ways back when I was still using aarinfantasy lol. Looking back at it now gives me so much embarrassment.

I think the best part of HolicWorks stuff is that all their BL games written by this director/writer combo are actually set in the same universe, just different periods, so you constantly find little hints and nods to their previous games here and there. Not sure how they connected it to Tokyo 24ku since I was rolling my eyes too hard at the MC railing against the leftist political party in the opener while being a unrealized gay man (yes, I know politics work differently in Japan) to continue just yet, but I've heard that even that one is connected in some ways. Thematically it's so cool to see the progress of Japan and its youkai/arcane sorcerer societies through the ages.

 

[Fishish]

I love Taishou Mebiusline and Tokyo Satsujinki! Secret: I actually translated the common route for Mebiusline a ways back when I was still using aarinfantasy lol. Looking back at it now gives me so much embarrassment.

I think the best part of HolicWorks stuff is that all their BL games written by this director/writer combo are actually set in the same universe, just different periods, so you constantly find little hints and nods to their previous games here and there. Not sure how they connected it to Tokyo 24ku since I was rolling my eyes too hard at the MC railing against the leftist political party in the opener while being a unrealized gay man (yes, I know politics work differently in Japan) to continue just yet, but I've heard that even that one is connected in some ways.

Omg I totaly might of seen some of your transaltion on aarins fantasy then since back when I was reading it I was more frequently lukring there! Definitely a few years ago now XD.

I had heard all their games were interconected, some look a bit more blatently similar theme wise like tokyo onmoyouji and taishou mebiusline but I havent read all their games so I havent personally seen any interconections or easter eggs between them. Their upcoming game looks banger tho which is why I was hoping to get around to reading tokyo 24 this year but dear god sounds like I have a lot to look forward to with your discription of the main guy XD. Ill roll my eyes lovingly as he thinks some bullshit just like every other visual novel protaganist.

 

[ishibashi]

Omg I totaly might of seen some of your transaltion on aarins fantasy then since back when I was reading it I was more frequently lukring there! Definitely a few years ago now XD.

I had heard all their games were interconected, some look a bit more blatently similar theme wise like tokyo onmoyouji and taishou mebiusline but I havent read all their games so I havent personally seen any interconections or easter eggs between them. Their upcoming game looks banger tho which is why I was hoping to get around to reading tokyo 24 this year but dear god sounds like I have a lot to look forward to with your discription of the main guy XD. Ill roll my eyes lovingly as he thinks some bullshit just like every other visual novel protaganist.

You mean Suito wa Hakumei? It's a different staff from usual with that one, brand new director, brand new writer. The usual director for Mebiusline/Tokyo Somethingsomething series is not director or writer but the producer, so....it's pretty hard to tell what to expect! They've never gone wrong with supernatural settings though.

NGL, when I first saw it I was like, "wah Holicworks made an MC that looks like Tatebayashi rather than an MC who looks vaguely like Kyouichirou???"

End of January is so stacked. XD

 

[testeeee]

Yeah maybe that's the reason Bernardo's fell a bit flat for me but it could have also of been because they spent more time apart than interacting like in the other side story routes. Ivan is a love hate character for me. Arguably I think he is one of the funniest and I think his clashing with Gian is very typical of the young bromance they have going on as gangsters but I also agree that he spends too much time denying what he has going on with Gian to make himself feel better all the while Gian is like "???" XD. Giulio is my least favourite overall which is disappointing because he has some interesting elements to his character like the entire idea of a dodgy upbringing within the Mafia and a overbearing attachment to Gian but I felt it was under-utilised and also Gian was overly forgiving and passive towards Giulio's behaviour which felt a bit off character wise. Luchino and Bernardo have the most natural feeling romances to me, like with Bernardo he actually starts off as a friend so there is already some history and dynamic between them and with luchino he's the most ready to actually teach and mentor Gian and believe in his ability to become leader which means that those two felt like they had the healthiest relationships. I don't normally care within yaoi how healthy a relationship is but I do care about character synergies, growth and dynamics which is why I probably like Giulio the least since they changed the least between the beginning and end of the game and why I like Bakshi despite him starting off as an ass.

Also, for Ivan i dont think he needs to be in a relationship with gian to solve his problems, yk? Just having Gian around and indeed being being Ivans best friend does the same imo, and it helps him bond with the other capos and considering them family too. Same for Giulio, once Gian joins cr:5 Giulio starts being closer to each capo and doesnt need to sniff corpses anymore
Giulio indeed had some potential, i really love the fact that he is the last heir of a very rich and prestigious family but everyone in his family just knows he is gay and wont continue the family lineage so the family has to find other ways to keep its influence. I just love the Giulio scenes in bad egg for that because you clearly see the Bondones discomfort and Giulio not giving a damn.
Otherwise yes Gian just forgiving Giulio quickly like that in the og game was too out of character and unrealistic. At least whats cute is that with Giulio we do see Gian being cute and vocal with his lover, which he doesnt do if he is in a relationship with the other capos because they are the ones taking initiative in stuff like that (Gian does take some initiative with Bernardo tho)
For me Bernardo and Luchino felt the most natural too, thats why i like their ship with Gian. Yeah unfortunately the bar is quite low for yaoi so i try to not think too much about the first H scenes but still it plays an important part, like i really hate how it got handled for Bernardo. I dont see why it had to be noncon even scenario wise.... and im so mad about bernardo not feeling sorry at all even after
But i still like their relationship dynamics and all that and i loved all the talking bernardo did to gian between the bar and the H scene
For Luchino i do love how Gian isnt afraid to stand firm on his feet in front of him and how he is ready to throw at him very violently despite being impressed by Luchino, and Luchino being too stuned to speak haha. I also do love how Gian is 100% Luchinos type
And for both Luchino and Bernardo i love the little seduction plays Gian always has with them
For Bakshi what bothered me is that Gian went from "i hate him and i will kill him" to "im worried about him and want him to embrace me" real quick and with no transition. This felt way too crazy for me
I do like the relationship they have once in Daivan tho

 

[testeeee]

The game is huge and yeah ive been playing only bad egg for around 40 hours (with the side stories included and it does take longer to translate it from japanese to english) which is longer than I spent on the entire original. Its amazing that each ark feels like it could be its entire own seperate visual novel, they certainly put the energy into expansion of the story. Ill need to try out secret diary after I finish bad egg, I dont mind some good fan content and CGs, honestly after bad egg ill probably welcome the breather XD.

Idk how long i played bad egg but it was certainly a lot too ! whats happening right now in the story for you? to know where youre at approx
I also played secret diary after bad egg ! i first intended to pay SD first but i didnt have a translation app that was able to hook it so i went straight for bad egg.
If you play Gians Lucky happy life (the best of the spin offs imo, the other ones you can def skip) you def need to check for the cheats because otherwise that game is a pain kinda. Thats also the only game with voice acting (apart from LD1 and bad egg ofc)!

in Gians perspective it was always downplayed (ah my happy go lucky boy downplaying trauma)

reaaal, in the og game he sees a lot of traumatic stuff and some happen to him too but hes always moving on very fast. Its part of his character ig but also in the 1930s mental health was hardly a thing and same for calling out abuse so i guess it can make more sense
I also love darker stories! the last cafeteria scene was also very intense. I also do love that in the prison part you can do some stuff that will make you think youre on the right track (like befriending that bald dude) but youre actually on your way to a game over. So i was very happy when i found out how to escape

Btw speaking of the new sprites and voices, what do you guys think of them?
I do loooooove all the new sprites!! except for the Gian one, i really prefer the original ones for him. But all the others are better imo
For voices i think both versions are good, but i have preferences for some. I prefer Ivans new one than its original one, same for Bakshi (thats the only one for which i 1000% prefer the new version). For Luchino i prefer the original one (even though i love the new one too) because it also could have a high pitched tone (like when he is really happy) that the new voice doesnt have. For Bernardo and Gian i like them both the same way i think (and well Giulio is the same so)

 

[Fishish]

whats happening right now in the story for you? to know where youre at approx

Im in Daivan, I think the most memorable big event thats happend recently is a confrontation with Ivan in a warehouse where they were half working together and half trying to kill each other XD. Currently tho its a lot of the team building up the base and establishing themselves. Im a bit slow at reading at the moment since the new year holidays are over, free time you will be missed.

Btw speaking of the new sprites and voices, what do you guys think of them?
I do loooooove all the new sprites!! except for the Gian one, i really prefer the original ones for him. But all the others are better imo
For voices i think both versions are good, but i have preferences for some. I prefer Ivans new one than its original one, same for Bakshi (thats the only one for which i 1000% prefer the new version). For Luchino i prefer the original one (even though i love the new one too) because it also could have a high pitched tone (like when he is really happy) that the new voice doesnt have. For Bernardo and Gian i like them both the same way i think (and well Giulio is the same so)

I like the new sprites! Gians I dont mind but I certainly want to put his hand down, like my boi why are you in that position do you have a sore neck? Its the CGs im really impressed by, when people talked about Gian in the og like he was a pretty princess I had zero clue what they were talking about, man looked like a malnourished stray with matty blond hair! But in bad eggs CG man is like BEAUTIFUL, man went from looking like a weasle to a fox, he also looks more his age in bad egg also. I love how Yura's art has evolved to look in bad egg and friendly lab! All the other guys look 10x more beautiful also! I used to get borderline jumpscared by luchinos and Giulios forward facing sprites in the original, like please go back to 3/4 view your scaring me XD.

Yeah I recognised Luchinos new voice actor as the same as Matsuda from paradise and hes VERY deep tonaly. A beautiful voice but its probably the most apparent change (besides gian) from the original. Benardo and Ivan I didnt clock as hard (and actually might prefer) and Gians new voice grew on me once the game kinda established that it would be leaning more into some of gians "softer" traits rather than full sass and pomp XD. I would have to listen to the voices side to tell the difference for some of them, they did a fantastic job as a new cast.

reaaal, in the og game he sees a lot of traumatic stuff and some happen to him too but hes always moving on very fast. Its part of his character ig but also in the 1930s mental health was hardly a thing and same for calling out abuse so i guess it can make more sense
I also love darker stories! the last cafeteria scene was also very intense. I also do love that in the prison part you can do some stuff that will make you think youre on the right track (like befriending that bald dude) but youre actually on your way to a game over. So i was very happy when i found out how to escape

Yeah usually yaoi isnt a staple for representation and i dont think it has to be but it was interesting naratively to see some of it being adressed even if Gian doest have the healthiest coping mechanisms (Gian is still an awful under the rug sweeper but he was more likely to call it out in bad egg and actualy behave in a way that showed some repercussions, eg avoiding bakshis touch, dissociation and outbusts) which i think worked in the stories benifit.

And yes the early game was very bad end heavy, and there were long streches of story before an actual bad end happened also so I was often tricked thinking I did good XD. Then I would have to backtrack to see where I went wrong. Im hoping im not making too many wrong choices in Divan, there is forever a temptation to just pull up a guide XD.

 

[testeeee]

aaah omg sorry i thought you were more advanced in bad egg! yeah you still have quite some way to go. Feel free to update me whenever youre progressing into the story, so we could talk about the different endings and interactions!

I like the new sprites! Gians I dont mind but I certainly want to put his hand down, like my boi why are you in that position do you have a sore neck? Its the CGs im really impressed by, when people talked about Gian in the og like he was a pretty princess I had zero clue what they were talking about, man looked like a malnourished stray with matty blond hair! But in bad eggs CG man is like BEAUTIFUL, man went from looking like a weasle to a fox, he also looks more his age in bad egg also. I love how Yura's art has evolved to look in bad egg and friendly lab! All the other guys look 10x more beautiful also! I used to get borderline jumpscared by luchinos and Giulios forward facing sprites in the original, like please go back to 3/4 view your scaring me XD.

the new gian sprite looks too much like a different person to me, he also doesnt look like the gian in the cgs i think
I thought Gian was pretty in the og game ! he didnt seem to look too young compared to his canon age, like maybe a few years younger but not that much imo. I was happy everyone in the game was 22-31 because its my own age range haha. The new cgs are indeed gorgeous and bad egg Gian looks indeed beautiful and 25 for sure. What bothers me tho is that in some of the bad egg cgs he has a very muscular body with 6 packs but he is always described as "skinny" so it bothers me. Gian in the og game fitted the canon description better than in bad egg body-wise. Like, a mans body doesnt need to be bodybuilding-competition-like to be beautiful, yk? Luchino, Ivan, Giulio and Bakshi are canonly very muscular so it works, but Bernardo is supposed to be tall and skinny and Gian skinny too, so seeing them with 6 or 8 packs rubs me the wrong way. I like when theres cohesion so i dont like when it changes from one cg to another, or if the cg is different from the canon description. In the same way, i dont like how Ivan is sometimes made taller than Gian in some CGs whereas Ivan is supposed to be only 1cm taller than Gian so they are canonly basically the same height...
I liked the giulio and luchino ones facing forward sprites tho haha but yes the artstyle is improved, especially concerning the anatomy (in the og game some H cgs looked quite bad unfortunately)

Yeah I recognised Luchinos new voice actor as the same as Matsuda from paradise and hes VERY deep tonaly.

Its a well known VA in general yes! Ive heard from Paradise several times, is it good ? Also i remember seeing one random BL protag popularity poll in which the only character that was placed higher than Gian was the Paradise main character

And yes the early game was very bad end heavy, and there were long streches of story before an actual bad end happened also so I was often tricked thinking I did good XD. Then I would have to backtrack to see where I went wrong. Im hoping im not making too many wrong choices in Divan, there is forever a temptation to just pull up a guide XD.

One thing im proud of is that the first Daivan ending i got was the "best one" haha so i managed to get all good choices apparently. But its not my personal fav end tho
I wont spoil any end since youre not here yet but def lmk once you reach any end !!