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General BL Games Discussion Thread

Are Adelta's games really that bad? I saw a lot of criticism towards their games and the reviews are polarising. They are either very positive or extremely negative, so I don't know what to think about them... I've been considering buying MangaGamer's yaoi visual novel bundle, but I'm hesitant about it because of Adelta's games, even though they seem really interesting to me because of the characters.
I didn't realize they had that kind of reputation. Most of the sites I frequent love Adelta games. I do know that Ooe had a pretty big hate campaign when it came out. I think because people were upset a bl was ranking so high on vndb? I'd say give them a shot if you're interested in the other games in the bundle. The characters, at least in Hashihime, are probably the most polarizing aspect in my opinion, so if you're interested in them you'll probably have a good time.
 
I didn't realize they had that kind of reputation. Most of the sites I frequent love Adelta games. I do know that Ooe had a pretty big hate campaign when it came out. I think because people were upset a bl was ranking so high on vndb? I'd say give them a shot if you're interested in the other games in the bundle. The characters, at least in Hashihime, are probably the most polarizing aspect in my opinion, so if you're interested in them you'll probably have a good time.
Yeah, I've seen a lot of hate towards Adelta criticizing their writing and etc, which really concerned me since I already had their games wishlisted on Steam. But still, their games and more specifically, settings and characters in those games seem interesting, especially the MC's. MangaGamer probably should update their project status page on their blog. I hope that they'll release ooe's translation and announce something new this year...
 
Hey! i have a question concerning the Holicworks BLVNs.
Since they are in the same settings, is it best to play the games in their order of publication ?
Tokyo onmyouji -> tokyo 24 -> Taisho Meibiusline -> Tokyo satsujinki -> suito wa hakumei
Or does it not matter ? I would probably play them all anyway since ive heard about them
I will for sure start with Tokyo Onmyouji since its been personnally recommended to me several times. But im wondering if for the rest i should play in chronological release order or not
 
I think playing them out of order doesn't really detract from anything. Not sure about Suito wa Hakumei, but the first three tokyo onmyouji, tokyo 24 ku, and taishou meibusline could easily be read as stand-alones maybe the super well read and investigative individuals might find some commonalities between them, but when I read the three I could hardly find a connection, but then again i was using a machine translator so there might be something lost there. Unlike the other 3, tokyo satsujinki does have some very obvious easter eggs (that you could even catch with machine translations), but again nothing that would detract from your immersion with the story. You should play it however you like
Hey! i have a question concerning the Holicworks BLVNs.
Since they are in the same settings, is it best to play the games in their order of publication ?
Tokyo onmyouji -> tokyo 24 -> Taisho Meibiusline -> Tokyo satsujinki -> suito wa hakumei
Or does it not matter ? I would probably play them all anyway since ive heard about them
I will for sure start with Tokyo Onmyouji since its been personnally recommended to me several times. But im wondering if for the rest i should play in chronological release order or not
 
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Hey! i have a question concerning the Holicworks BLVNs.
Since they are in the same settings, is it best to play the games in their order of publication ?
Tokyo onmyouji -> tokyo 24 -> Taisho Meibiusline -> Tokyo satsujinki -> suito wa hakumei
Or does it not matter ? I would probably play them all anyway since ive heard about them
I will for sure start with Tokyo Onmyouji since its been personnally recommended to me several times. But im wondering if for the rest i should play in chronological release order or not
Play in whichever order you want, they're all standalones.
 
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Who's your favorite character in Suito wa Hakumei?

This might be a spoiler, but









I grew to like the hidden character, the demon. His voice and tsundere-like personality are cute.

It's not a perfect happy ending, but

I was glad there was a route for him.😭
 
Hey! i have a question concerning the Holicworks BLVNs.
Since they are in the same settings, is it best to play the games in their order of publication ?
Tokyo onmyouji -> tokyo 24 -> Taisho Meibiusline -> Tokyo satsujinki -> suito wa hakumei
Or does it not matter ? I would probably play them all anyway since ive heard about them
I will for sure start with Tokyo Onmyouji since its been personnally recommended to me several times. But im wondering if for the rest i should play in chronological release order or not
About Tokyo Onmyouji, one of the guys Basara has a much shorter route than the others and his route is just porn without plot essentially. The other 3 guys actually have fully fledged out routes with actual unique stories/plots/romances. I'm telling you this cause I've seen lots of people being disappointed cause they either started or ended the game with Basara's route, so something to keep in mind when choosing the route order you're going with in this VN.
 
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Are Adelta's games really that bad? I saw a lot of criticism towards their games and the reviews are polarising. They are either very positive or extremely negative, so I don't know what to think about them... I've been considering buying MangaGamer's yaoi visual novel bundle, but I'm hesitant about it because of Adelta's games, even though they seem really interesting to me because of the characters.
Adelta games BAD?? I would say they are some of the best modern visual novels have to offer, especally in the BL department! Adelta stories are very linear so that might turn some people off of them (aka you make NO choices in the games, you play a route and then you are able to move onto the next route as a branch off in the narative) but the stories themselves and the characters are wonderful and have so much care put into them from the era acurate language to the real literary references. I would easily recomend them.
 
i started it !!! i may do a proper review later ! i did a few routes (Matsuda and shimada) and so far everyone seems to be better than in the og game
poor Azuma... he deserves a good husband!!
what did you think about the 3 main LIs ? In the og game+Musubi and in Kiwame, because it seems that the LIs are quite different in Kiwame compared to the og game
Well kiwame is kinda like a "golden route" so some of the characters worse qualities never really had a chance to manafest as blatently like in the original game (particualry in masudas case). I wouldnt say that the characters act diffrently per say, because they kinda act the same way as when your not on their routes in the og game, but because of the diffrent circumstances and the group dynamics rather than the "us vs them" they all act a bit more chill (including to azuma, which after the other two games he DESERVES!).

Azuma gets no good picks in husbands, hes kinda a pet dog who has to pick an owner with the losest leash XD. They all kinda grew on me anyway but in an eye rolly kinda way, like there they go again being nut jobs.

Also my god you play games FAST! Im so caught up on other stuff currently that i feel like I havent had time to read jack for like a month! Regardless I hope you enjoy it! feel free to message if you wanna talk about it!
 
Well kiwame is kinda like a "golden route" so some of the characters worse qualities never really had a chance to manafest as blatently like in the original game (particualry in masudas case). I wouldnt say that the characters act diffrently per say, because they kinda act the same way as when your not on their routes in the og game, but because of the diffrent circumstances and the group dynamics rather than the "us vs them" they all act a bit more chill (including to azuma, which after the other two games he DESERVES!).
I do think they are different. They obviously are the same characters with same personality and bad sides, but they are much more likeable. Even Mitsugi who spends so much time frowning and not caring about others in the og game showed his better side very early in Kiwame. For now, i dont find him insufferable, and KIwame Matsuda well he is like i wanted him to be (almost). Takara seems to still Takara but its fine!
But also i have a lot of things to say about Matsuda in the og game. To me it looks like they didnt know where they wanted to go with his character :
To me it looks like they didnt know where they wanted to go with his character, thats why he did a switch in the second part of his route in the og game BUT the Matsuda from Musubi is the continuation of the Matsuda from the first part of his route, or from Kiwame Matsuda. Its not a tyran Matsuda continuation at all (thank god).
Him not being that nice makes a lot of sense, and him starting to show his true colors in a stressful environment makes sense too. But the degree of abuse he did on Azuma in the og game doesnt make sense imo. He really cared about Azuma and was worried for him whenever he climbed trees, almost having a heart attack at the thought of him falling. And the next day you tell me he repeatedely hits Azumas head against the wall, which can easily kill him ? I dont think it makes him a complex character here, its just nonsense imo. I can understand that he is fine with appearing as a dictator to others since he thinks it will help them all survive. He is ready to punch someones face if it means this person will stop disobeying, because if people do the thing he wants them to do then everyone will have more food and everyone will survive (at least thats how i understood his train of thought). This, i understand well. He isnt as nice as people think, and he even likes punching others. But the way he treated Azuma didnt make sense, especially since Azuma is the one who kept believing in him which was what Matsuda was craving. Thats why i think the writers kinda cancelled his abuse of Azuma in Musubi, because it was waaay too much. In Musubi its like "look he is the nice Matsuda !!!" in a and-they-lived-happily-ever-after ending. Make up your mind, do you want Matsuda to be a good husband ? or do you want him to be a horrible abuser ? Theres stuff he told Azuma which were straight up monstruous, like only a truly evil person wouldve said them. Him saying Azuma was made to be abused, him making fun of Azumas childhood,... Matsuda not being true to his "trustworthy big brother" image makes sense, for ex Matsuda being turned on when punching a sexual partner or Matsuda wanting people to listen to him because he thinks he knows better than them. But Matsuda being a horrible person to Azuma doesnt make sense. Im glad they stopped with the "Matsuda horrible abuser" plot point in Musubi and Kiwame. But also, im wondering why they included it in the first place in the og game. If it was to make Azuma revive his childhood traumas, there was already Takaras route for that (since he knew him since childhood and masturbated on Azumas suffering)...
Also... sorry to break it to you Matsuda but so many men have sexual fantasies where they beat the shit out of their sexual partners (especially if its women). You arent special ! i can see why it bothers him because he likes to care for others and wants to be a hero and all that so it seems contradictory, but its not an uncommon fetish at all among men.
Azuma gets no good picks in husbands, hes kinda a pet dog who has to pick an owner with the losest leash XD. They all kinda grew on me anyway but in an eye rolly kinda way, like there they go again being nut jobs.
he's so cute and fun tho, and after the shitty life he had he deserves to be at peace!! I wont let any LI of the og game get too close to him. Im only letting Musubi Matsuda approach him (i know its happening after the og game but to me he is a different character lol)
For Kiwame i cant say it for all LIs yet, but Kiwame Matsuda is good (except in 1 scene). For Shimada im not sure what i think of him, but he def had good moments
do you have a fav LI ?
Also my god you play games FAST! Im so caught up on other stuff currently that i feel like I havent had time to read jack for like a month! Regardless I hope you enjoy it! feel free to message if you wanna talk about it!
well... i currently have a lot of free time lmao. And when im into something i can binge it!
I think you read them but i posted my review of the 2 first Paradise games here ! and i will post my review of Kiwame in 1 big message, to not spam too much
 
What do you guys think makes a VN popular with westerns?

For example Ooe seems very popular... but Uuc is not? Hashihme is popular.
Among unTL VN I see a lot of people play Nie no Machi and Tokyo 24 ward... but I never see people playing something like Kintouka, Galtia which I think were released around the same period?

Even the recent VN released outside of Ooe it seems like the western side did not care about Grey Arcadia of Twilight Aqua Town or other Holic VN?
 
What do you guys think makes a VN popular with westerns?

For example Ooe seems very popular... but Uuc is not? Hashihme is popular.
Among unTL VN I see a lot of people play Nie no Machi and Tokyo 24 ward... but I never see people playing something like Kintouka, Galtia which I think were released around the same period?

Even the recent VN released outside of Ooe it seems like the western side did not care about Grey Arcadia of Twilight Aqua Town or other Holic VN?
Twilight Aqua Town and others HolicWorks VN are popular in my opinion, it's just that people don't usually recommend them much... By the way, did you see this on X? Would you like a remake or sequel of Omerta?
In my opinion, this game became very popular with MTL; now it's much easier to understand than before.

img.jpg
 
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Twilight Aqua Town and others HolicWorks VN are popular in my opinion, it's just that people don't usually recommend them much... By the way, did you see this on X? Would you like a remake or sequel of Omerta?
In my opinion, this game became very popular with MTL; now it's much easier to understand than before.

View attachment 96045
I barely see fanart/fics of it... even the pixic section of them is empty compared to Ooe...

I haven't played Omerta neither I use MTL?
 
What do you guys think makes a VN popular with westerns?

For example Ooe seems very popular... but Uuc is not? Hashihme is popular.
Among unTL VN I see a lot of people play Nie no Machi and Tokyo 24 ward... but I never see people playing something like Kintouka, Galtia which I think were released around the same period?

Even the recent VN released outside of Ooe it seems like the western side did not care about Grey Arcadia of Twilight Aqua Town or other Holic VN?
tbh I think a lot of it just depends on chance... many of the English-speaking players don't actively keep up with jp releases themselves so an English post about the game has to gain traction on social media
 
What do you guys think makes a VN popular with westerns?

For example Ooe seems very popular... but Uuc is not? Hashihme is popular.
Among unTL VN I see a lot of people play Nie no Machi and Tokyo 24 ward... but I never see people playing something like Kintouka, Galtia which I think were released around the same period?

Even the recent VN released outside of Ooe it seems like the western side did not care about Grey Arcadia of Twilight Aqua Town or other Holic VN?
Well I found Galtia's and Kintouka's romances (from the routes I've played at least) to be pretty crap tbh. Also they're very unnecessarily long VNs, I've seen a few people saying that they dropped Kintouka in the common route cause it was getting tedious for them to keep playing it and tbh it was pretty tedious for me too.

I think Uuc is just simply not considered as good as the other 2 Adelta VNs, I've heard someone say that even Japanese reviewers thought it was the weakest Adelta VN.

Nie no Machi was officially TL'ed (albeit censored) for some time now and I've seen more discussions among Westerners about Haiiro no Arcadia than Tokyo 24-ku (I've looked for both).
 
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Well I found Galtia's and Kintouka's romances (from the routes I've played at least) to be pretty crap tbh. Also they're very unnecessarily long VNs, I've seen a few people saying that they dropped Kintouka in the common route cause it was getting tedious for them to keep playing it and tbh it was pretty tedious for me too.

I think Uuc is just simply not considered as good as the other 2 Adelta VNs, I've heard someone say that even Japanese reviewers thought it was the weakest Adelta VN.

Nie no Machi was officially TL'ed (albeit censored) for some time now and I've seen more discussions among Westerners about Haiiro no Arcadia than Tokyo 24-ku (I've looked for both).
Weird for me I've always seen people talk well about Kintouka, it's just not very popular. Galtia seems even less popular than it. The writing (of kintouka) is also very beautiful for what I remember, it felt like reading a book. But also very hard U.U.

I wonder why Uuc is not considered as good as Hashihime or Ooe. I didn't think it was that much different.

As for nie no machi I was surprised how much I saw it being mentioned before it was translated. It's a game I didn't find it very good, speaking of romances... so I don't know what consists of "good romance" for people... honestly it seems like westerns just like every romance. I didn't find Ooe very romantic for example (it's full of rape and the characters don't like each other much?) but it has at this point the highest amount of fics and fans I've seen in recent times.
 
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Hey! i have a question concerning the Holicworks BLVNs.
Since they are in the same settings, is it best to play the games in their order of publication ?
Tokyo onmyouji -> tokyo 24 -> Taisho Meibiusline -> Tokyo satsujinki -> suito wa hakumei
Or does it not matter ? I would probably play them all anyway since ive heard about them
I will for sure start with Tokyo Onmyouji since its been personnally recommended to me several times. But im wondering if for the rest i should play in chronological release order or not

imo it's kind of a 50/50 deal where sometimes ie 24ku the timing doesn't matter too much since it mainly does it's own thing. Other times? Can't speak about Mebiusline&Suito but Onmyouji is very open about referencing a former entry (Beniiro Tenjou Ayakashi Kitan) through direct cameos and Satsujinki....didn't really feel that reliant but having familiarity with the setting from the other games might help in following along it's maze of a plot (and noticing smal allusions/easter eggs)?

Which is to say, Onmyouji is probably the worst offender when it comes to 'needing' previous installment knowledge for the cameo-related parts. Otherwise it's been mostly a casual nudge that won't really matter when it comes to the actual story so the order shouldn't matter too much
 
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Are Adelta's games really that bad? I saw a lot of criticism towards their games and the reviews are polarising. They are either very positive or extremely negative, so I don't know what to think about them... I've been considering buying MangaGamer's yaoi visual novel bundle, but I'm hesitant about it because of Adelta's games, even though they seem really interesting to me because of the characters.
Gonna chime in as another person surprised at hearing that.

Most of the opinions I'd seen were positive, with Ooe being like the biggest hit yet.
However, at the same time I do kinda get how some might not vibe with Kurosawa's writing since it depends on what the player is seeking from the game. Adelta's works tend to be linear quirky narratives so maybe instead of pure good vs bad it may be more ymmv (where just like movies/books if it clicks it clicks. If it doesn't, you know to stay away from the rest)

Personally I would still recommend trying out at least one of their works to truly judge if you're into them or not.
 
Weird for me I've always seen people talk well about Kintouka, it's just not very popular. Galtia seems even less popular than it. The writing (of kintouka) is also very beautiful for what I remember, it felt like reading a book. But also very hard U.U.

I wonder why Uuc is not considered as good as Hashihime or Ooe. I didn't think it was that much different.

As for nie no machi I was surprised how much I saw it being mentioned before it was translated. It's a game I didn't find it very good, speaking of romances... so I don't know what consists of "good romance" for people... honestly it seems like westerns just like every romance. I didn't find Ooe very romantic for example (it's full of rape and the characters don't like each other much?) but it has at this point the highest amount of fics and fans I've seen in recent times.
I mean when it comes to Kintouka I hated both Munesada and Kyou for turning out to be r*pists assholes, I have no idea why some people claimed in their reviews that their romances were completely consensual and healthy when it wasn't the case at all. Also Kyou had to literally
victim blame and guiltrip the protagonist to date him after almost getting raped by a side character which was the worst written way I've seen 2 characters start dating in a BL VN.
I think their routes are the most toxic routes I've ever read from a BL VN so far (as I avoid routes with unavoidable non-con and bad endings). Also Galtia is another VN full of r*pe too so ...
 
I mean when it comes to Kintouka I hated both Munesada and Kyou for turning out to be r*pists assholes, I have no idea why some people claimed in their reviews that their romances were completely consensual and healthy when it wasn't the case at all. Also Kyou had to literally
victim blame and guiltrip the protagonist to date him after almost getting raped by a side character which was the worst written way I've seen 2 characters start dating in a BL VN.
I think their routes are the most toxic routes I've ever read from a BL VN so far (as I avoid routes with unavoidable non-con and bad endings). Also Galtia is another VN full of r*pe too so ...
Oh wow, the most toxic? I'm surprised. O_O I remembered you played Arcadia right? (I think it was you who I quoted about it?) I found that game way more crazy, 2/3 of the love interests are straight up crazy... I was so uncomfortable reading the brown hair senpai route... and the blonde guy was even worse.... I recently played Ooe where the protagonist
sexually assaults people in multiple routes.
but no one seems to care.

The most toxic VN I played is probably TnC? Or maybe NTY? I'm not sure lol
 
Oh wow, the most toxic? I'm surprised. O_O I remembered you played Arcadia right? (I think it was you who I quoted about it?) I found that game way more crazy, 2/3 of the love interests are straight up crazy... I was so uncomfortable reading the brown hair senpai route... and the blonde guy was even worse.... I recently played Ooe where the protagonist
sexually assaults people in multiple routes.
but no one seems to care.

The most toxic VN I played is probably TnC? Or maybe NTY? I'm not sure lol
Yeah I played Arcadia but I avoided Seri's route cause I knew it had unavoidable r*pe. Riou was forceful at times too but I didn't find him as bad as the 2 semes from Kintouka whose routes I've played, I mean in Kyou's route the protagonist says this after their first night together: 嫌がることはしないと言いながら、泣いても、止めてくれなかったり。and there are many horrible such lines in his route that I finally dropped it after the second H scene. Munesada also acted very badly in his second H scene too which made me drop his route as well.
 
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Yeah I played Arcadia but I avoided Seri's route cause I knew it had unavoidable r*pe. Riou was forceful at times too but I didn't find him as bad as the 2 semes from Kintouka whose routes I've played, I mean in Kyou's route the protagonist says this after their first night together: 嫌がることはしないと言いながら、泣いても、止めてくれなかったり。and there are many horrible such lines in his route that I finally dropped it after the second H scene. Munesada also acted very badly in his second H scene too which made me drop his route too.
The guy with brown hair (Rio) rally made me so uncomfortable. The main character didn't like him at all until her wore him down. And during the first sex scene he does what you say, MC keeps asking him to stop and says no but he continues. And when they do it once he keeps going at it even if the MC protested. I've seen a lot of slimy content in BL but he reminds me of those guys irl who can't take no for a hint lol

But i'm not sure I'd call him the most toxic. The most toxics for me are old BL with a lot of rape to love.
 
The guy with brown hair (Rio) rally made me so uncomfortable. The main character didn't like him at all until her wore him down. And during the first sex scene he does what you say, MC keeps asking him to stop and says no but he continues. And when they do it once he keeps going at it even if the MC protested. I've seen a lot of slimy content in BL but he reminds me of those guys irl who can't take no for a hint lol

But i'm not sure I'd call him the most toxic. The most toxics for me are old BL with a lot of rape to love.
I mean that's exactly how Kyou behaved too for me, especially in his second H scene. I found him to be an even bigger incel than Riou, especially when he went on that angry rant after he caught the protagonist almost being r*ped by another man.

Also like I've said I (try to) avoid the rape to love routes by checking out the trigger warnings and reviews to see which routes contain these elements. I got pissed by that Kintouka review who said that there weren't such things in that VN unlike in other BLs.

But yeah, Riou wasn't one of my favorites either. If I were to ever replay Arcadia I'd probably only replay the Senpai's route, which was very heartwarming for a BL VN route, especially in the second half.
 
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I mean that's exactly how Kyou behaved too for me, especially in his second H scene. I found him to be an even bigger incel than Riou, especially when he went on that angry rant after he caught the protagonist almost being r*ped by another man.

Also like I've said I (try to) avoid the rape to love routes by checking out the trigger warnings and reviews to see which routes contain these elements. I got pissed by that Kintouka review who said that there weren't such things in that VN unlike in other BLs.

But yeah, Riou wasn't one of my favorites either. If I were to ever replay Arcadia I'd probably only replay the Senpai's route, which was very heartwarming for a BL VN route, especially in the second half.
Oh the Senpai.. I forgot about him... his route starts with the main character getting molested and sexually assaulted by the Senpai so I'm not sure I'd call him heartwarming...

I really don't like rape to love. I can deal with the love interest doing something bad after they fall in love, but someone falling in love with the person who molested them is just a big nono for me sorry :X

In retrospect I don't think I liked Arcadia much....? I guess the art was good but it felt like reading a 10 years old BL with the amount of rape/noncoon it has.