General Eroge Impressions & Discussion

[Balzac]

The disappointing new games made me reinstall W.L.O. in inner protest... They were just too dull and short. (latter is true for shukufuku) And not a single, memorable funny moment in sight! Majikoi S had more, by gosh. I'll comfort myself with a little replay of my most favorite game from Akabeisoft.
Take note, Studio Ryokucha, that's how one transforms a ridiculous premise into a powerful commentary of "pure love". With also better laughs, natch.

[PhoenixG]

Just start playing witch garden. So far the story is quite light hearted. The E mote system they use is really good, this might be the "next generation" system to use in eroges.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by PhoenixG

Just start playing witch garden. So far the story is quite light hearted. The E mote system they use is really good, this might be the "next generation" system to use in eroges.

Just for fun (tried this with the trial), you can try going into the Settings and switching to "Dramatic Mode", and then running in Auto. Dramatic mode causes the text box to disappear while a line is voiced, so between that and the e-mote system, it sort of gives it a bit more of an anime feel (though of course the text box appears for narration and protagonist dialog).

All in all, the e-mote system is still a bit clunky because it's script line-based, but I agree that it's pretty good for a sort of first generation attempt (though of course OreImo and Haganai PSP used this sort of system before).

Anyway, looking forward to receiving my copy of the game in the mail soon... maybe next week.

[Mahou]

From what I saw on a video a while ago, the anime-like feeling seems to be getting used to. I felt similar about it when I had started playing Dracu Riot with its character animations (mostly eye movements).
With another month of 2-3 VNs that looks nicely and other material I find randomly, my HDD space on my laptop is running dangerously low

*cough* Anyway: I'm looking forward to the next extra scenario patch for Hatsukoi 1/1. I loved Maya's what if very much. For me the "true way" of how her route should have ended . And now it's Kyou's turn. I had nothing much to complain about her route as it was the most harmless one, so her extra patch is likely more icha-icha and ecchi.
In my mini-step progression of Walkure Romanze I've reached Celia's confessions scene and it had a beautiful set up atmosphere and vibe.
And I have still Period and its english fan patch left to try + a handful other on-going VNs with no definite order or "top priority" to continue.

[Balzac]

Can anyone who plays AXL games show a link to an old post or write about their more recent products? I seem to have neglected their games since kashicom, and I would like to know if they continued in the vein of Yuzu-soft consistency or Lump of Sugar decline for me. I believe kashicom hadn't really impressed me as their preceding games, which was why I stopped.

[hyl]

While the majority of people seems to be reading Witch's Garden or Kurano-kunchi no Futago Jijou (for the imouto lovers), i have been reading Aete Mushisuru Kimi to no Mirai as the first game of this month instead.

Spoiler for impressions after finishing あえて無視するキミとの未来:

It's an ok game to read. While not bad, i can't exactly say it was that impressive.

I can pinpoint now about what i posted earlier about the trial about missing "something", because this game is much more a slice of life than their previous games that i played (1/2 summer , Harupoco and Kicking Horse Rhapsody).
Unless you like the characters, I think this game will bore you with it's slow pace and with not much happening story wise because the characters are most of the time just "fooling around".

You will see quite of the same jokes being reused (Nanagi being very bra-con, Ruru and Kei breaking the atmosphere with their silly antics etc.) , so unless you find them the first times funny you won't like the comedy . I did however enjoyed the majority of these jokes.

This game emphasizes more on the established relationships of the characters (which are seen in the flashbacks of that heroine's route) rather than the ichaicha (which was overabundant in 1/2 summer) and the drama (which was probably the main theme of Harupoco).

While there was some romance, it was not even that important in 3 of the 4 routes.
Takurou's admiration for Minami and their kouhai- senpai relationship was much stronger overall.
The (non bloodrelated) sibling relationship with Nanagi ended being also more important in her route (plus some needless drama near the end because of that) than being lovers.
The 2 osananajimi's Kei and Ruru portrayed a very strong friendship with Takurou and it was the core of Kei's story.
Souka's story had probably the most romance, because she doesn't have an already established relationship with Takurou seeing that she recently transferred to the school.

As suspected the future sight ability of Takurou was pretty much a plot device for just 1 route, it was almost completely absent in the 3 other routes. Atleast this game didn't pulled some hard to believe plotdevice like 1/2 summer

Spoiler for 1/2summer's ending:

which ended being a similar to the one in Little busters/ NatsuNagi and IroSeka but much weaker

Like HaruPoco, the game has unlockable routes: Minami's and Nanagi's stories needs to be played first before unlocking Kei's (because her story has slight spoilers for Nanagi's story) and after finishing Kei will unlock Souka's.
Story wise, most of them are pretty average due their slice of life nature. Souka's is probably the best written one, but I liked Kei's story more (because of the slight dissatisfactory ending of Souka's story and the more impactfull ending in Kei's route).

The seiyuu cast was good with "familiar names" (in eroges) like Saori Yukito , Kiritani Hana, Gogyo Nazuna (or whatever alias she used for this game)
Music was ok, although pretty forgettable. The art and character design were nothing spectacular, but what bothered me was that more than 80% of all the cg's were drawn from a 45 degree angle.

Overall i liked Shunki Gentei Poco a Poco! more than Aete Mushisuru Kimi to no Mirai, but i find it better (slightly) than 1/2 summer

Off to read Witch's Garden, eventhough i am was never that much hyped for it eventhough i did try the trial.

[Mahou]

Originally Posted by hyl

While the majority of people seems to be reading Witch's Garden or Kurano-kunchi no Futago Jijou (for the imouto lovers), i have been reading Aete Mushisuru Kimi to no Mirai as the first game of this month instead.

Onee-chan lovers will have their moments as well . That being said Mr. Main Character is the usual dense type, but in everyday-matters he doesn't seem to be such horrible fail than Imouto no Katachi's main lead >_<. While this may not come across towards 4 of 5 sisters that strongly, he's very oblivious towards his own twin sister concerning her angry reactions. Her being the tsun-tsun of the cast doesn't help either, but normally you have a better understanding between twins in VNs (when the MC has a twin sister, that is)

Originally Posted by Balzac

Can anyone who plays AXL games show a link to an old post or write about their more recent products? I seem to have neglected their games since kashicom, and I would like to know if they continued in the vein of Yuzu-soft consistency or Lump of Sugar decline for me. I believe kashicom hadn't really impressed me as their preceding games, which was why I stopped.

I only played one AXL game and that was Dolphin Divers. And it was quite enjoyable. Most main routes were quite good and rabu-rabu and the main character is definitively of the better kinds. His character development in the common route (where it's the strongest) was very well done.

[Balzac]

Something to consider next year then. It's occurred to me that although I personally found the AXL games I read good, none of them had ever had fandiscs. I guess the market over there doesn't like it?

Another question to all of you: Does it bother you that in a game that has a "true"/unlockable final route, the girl you like least is the heroine? It goes without saying that one shouldn't just judge entire stories on the way a character has been portrayed throughout, but I found it bracing nonetheless, since it makes me CTRL-skip my way through the "couple" moments if I really don't appreciate the character.

[hyl]

Originally Posted by Balzac

Another question to all of you: Does it bother you that in a game that has a "true"/unlockable final route, the girl you like least is the heroine? It goes without saying that one shouldn't just judge entire stories on the way a character has been portrayed throughout, but I found it bracing nonetheless, since it makes me CTRL-skip my way through the "couple" moments if I really don't appreciate the character.

Fortunately i haven't seen (m)any least unlikable main heroines (maybe Chisato from Koichoco but she wasn't that bad in some routes, eventhough in that game you had to play her story first) in any game that i have played.

Nevertheless i would still continue reading it, because that story might answer some questions or reveal something important that connects to the other routes. Or you can hope that the main heroine will get better in her own route

[Mahou]

The games I've played with a true route had either the girl make an appearance in the final route or they were quite likeable. Example for case 1: Lunaris Filia, Sevens. The "secret" character showed up for a very, very short time on yours 2nd playthrough+, but the meat of the story = true route. Similar for Kamigakari Cross Heart (which was for 99 % light-hearted, though ).
Example 2: I think more common à la Suzukaze (<3), and other whirlpool-VNs that are not Lunaris Filia and Sevens. Or Ryuukou no Melodia which's true route is a rare 2-girl harem
The only case where the "true route" could have been better romance-wise was Concerto Note. It just didn't "click" for me as with other cases. And the horrible Grand Ending of Kamidere and its harem end. I consider it still as a poor excuse to add one h-scene for the sub girls + group-up.

Long story short: Overall, I consider myself fortunate that 99 % of the true routes where you end up with a girl, were done well enough. Obviously it helps that I'm easy to satisfy VN-wise and try hard to stick within my genres non-darkish, (gory/bloody) VNs .

[Newprimus]

Originally Posted by Balzac

Can anyone who plays AXL games show a link to an old post or write about their more recent products? I seem to have neglected their games since kashicom, and I would like to know if they continued in the vein of Yuzu-soft consistency or Lump of Sugar decline for me. I believe kashicom hadn't really impressed me as their preceding games, which was why I stopped.

I think almost everything after Koisuru Otome haven't been able to touch that one, with the exception of maybe Like a Butler. Though to be honest I haven't been able to really play their games either aside from the trials.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Has anyone heard anything about Baldr Sky Zero and it not being by Team Baldrhead?

[Mahou]

Started playing Witch's Garden and while it's indeed quite light-hearted I started to notice a few "uneasier" start-ups. Suzuno's mother is giving off bad vibes (still common route) during the one scene she has shortly appeared .

[johnishida]

Originally Posted by Cosmic Eagle

Has anyone heard anything about Baldr Sky Zero and it not being by Team Baldrhead?

The more I learn about that game the more it reminds me of the huge fail the JinkiExtend eeoge was so I'm not touching it despite Kou and Rain being there.

[Tong]

-> http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/5412/1327410839523.jpg
Useful for me.

[Newprimus]

I just finished both parts of Monster Girl Quest (also called Mon-Musu Quest) last night, and I have to honestly say that



THIS SHIT WAS THE BOMB!!!!!!




On the surface it's about a boy named Luka aspiring to be a hero and fighting all sorts of monster girls, getting raped, eaten, or both at the same time if he loses. Not the most pleasing-sounding adventure, and definitely not the easiest game to sell to other people. It's also a low-budget work, so the art quality ranges from very nice to sometimes disturbingly terrible. The game's also only voiced in certain H-scenes, but thankfully the whole work has been translated to english, which is how I played the game. The actual RPG combat is very minimal in its depth. There's not a lot of skills, items and inventory don't matter, and the battles at the very end of the game get pretty trivial, with the last battle being ridiculously easy if you know what to do (which isn't hard to figure out). And like I mentioned earlier the monster-girls range from sexy and awesome:

http://imageshack.us/a/img543/3214/001hud.jpg

to downright disturbing (in both look and art quality):

http://imageshack.us/a/img819/3995/002mnku.jpg



And there's a lot of these highly disturbing monsters raping Luka, often eating him in the process. So technically it's also vore, but thankfully very light vore as there are no graphical depictions of his body melting and whatnot. Additionally there is no visual depiction of blood in this game period. Which I was pretty surprised at, considering how terrifying some of these monsters look. Thankfully the one in the first image (the sexy one) is the heroine and she's the one you look at on screen most of the time, so thank goodness for that.

I also wish that most of the monster antagonists you meet in the game weren't so one-dimensional. It sometimes feels like they're either intelligent people you can hold conversations with and relate to, or seemingly mindless beasts with only man rape in their minds, with not much variety in-between.


So I've written all this about how the game is lacking in some areas or can be disturbing in other areas. So why do I still think this is the greatest thing since chocolate? Because of the awesome plot. And it's wonderful character development. And the surprisingly deep discussions into racism between humans and monsters. The very funny humor, clever writing and almost flawless story progression is also great, but I think the one best, greatest thing in this game is the relationship between our hero, Luka, and the mysterious monster girl he meets at the beginning of the game, Alice. From the moment these two meet the two characters have such amazing chemistry together, and the two change and grow over the story. Despite being from such opposing worlds, one a human aspiring to be a hero who fights against monsters, and the other an actual monster, the two overcome their differences, come to support each other, and learn how much alike they really are, in spite of all the cross-species racism that's depicted in the story.

The story and character development of this game puts so many higher-budget professional visual novels to such shame it's pitiful. Monster Girl Quest is simply put amazing, and if you can get yourself past the monster girl and the hero getting raped if he loses battles aspect, you'll also see how wonderful this game really is on the inside.


EDIT: I forgot to mention but the music in this game is pretty decent too.

[Mahou]

Finished Misumi and Ririko's route in Witch Garden. Both routes are mandatory in order to unlock the remaing ones, althrough Misumi's only needed for a a single one . Of the side cast Marcia's just incredibly cute. Her favorite word is "suteki" so expect to hear it very often.

I'll start with Ririko's because she was the first I completed: Her route was for me wonderful because the initial relation between Yousuke and her was just harmonic. And once the pre-confession "drama" was over, the step-up to lovers made them even more inseperable. The in-game phrase of "The two should be seen as one" or something along that line explained it perfectly. I think the english idiomtic expression is something like "The two are one item"? The finale of her route was very atmospheric (then again I found also Erina's "ultimate" drama in Dracu-Riot emotionally good, so take it with a grain of salt ).

Misumi: From the start of her route until the confession it felt that nothing really happened romance-wise. I guess in exchange they decided to give a stronger focus to Eclaire warming up to Yousuke while keeping her bad mouth *lol*.

Spoiler for Eclaire:

Her developement was probably due to the fact that Misumi's route is required to unlock Eclaire's. Thus the choice selection happened rather deeply into Misumi's route itself due to plot reasons.

Once the romance went full-throttle her dere-dere side was lethal. Her short final drama about Eclaire was kept rather brief. Her route wasn't so much about the romance between Yousuke and she (though their rabu-rabu and icha-icha moments were strong), but also strongly connected to Misumi-Yousuke-Eclaire in a thank-goodness love-triangle-free way.

And yet, I have still no definite clue what's the mystery about Ayari
My in-progress playing order: Ririko > Misumi > Eclaire >Suzuno > Ayari. Why? Those who might already have looked at some walkthroughs may see my reason behind it.

Edit: Finished Suzuno's route and phew... it was story-intensive. Again, it was strange how a few important parts of her route were not so much about her herself, but this time about Ayari. You'll receive some major plot information about Ayari by the end. Her romance part was quite as lethal as Misumi's and Suzuno's character development both with Yousuke and Ayari was very nice.
Currently in the midst of Airi's route and the learnt details of Suzuno's route appeared here obviously again. The uneasyness that occured was sad given their prior "progress".

[_eternal]

Hm... sorry if this is the wrong thread but does anyone here follow eroge sales and/or know where to find info on it? Someone linked me to the Techgian rankings (http://blog.livedoor.jp/insidears/ar.../52498497.html) but it doesn't really explain what the points mean.

[Balzac]

I'd forgotten to mention that I'd had a collection of games by Alcot (and Alcot HoneyComb) shipped last month, and I'd just finished the last and latest, nakahito.

All in all, the games I got were aneiro, poco a poco. onigokko and its fandisc, 1/2 summer and nakahito.

Aneiro and poco a poco were dare I say it, too "generic". I experienced the same problem with it as rhapsody - there was creative magic lacking to it. Sure there were funny parts, but it didn't really click. Latter had some decent music though.

Now onigokko, whoo boy it gave me faith once more in the company, not since osadai. The game is great, though the story kinda doesn't really sit well with me in that the "true" heroine is so unlikable. (a point I made just recently) There are however, strong "couple" moments, very likable characters, memorable music and solid comedy. Its fandisc was decent, a bit disappointing in showcases for H, but I'm not expecting anything more from a fandisc. (Why'd they even shoehorn that little sister route in when it was vastly inferior to the main routes)

1/2 summer was intriguing from the start, and was quite decent with comedy, however the story kind of doesn't make sense once one gets into the heroine routes: the main drive of the plot from the common route simply disappears into generic heroine eroge route. I'd expected more from the alternate universe element, but it just wasn't there (save for 1 route). But I've gotta give Alcot credit here as with onigokko, very endearing music - it almost makes me pine for a soundtrack (does it exist?)

Holding high hopes, I then played the latest for last, the superhero swarmed nakahito. While the premise was as intriguing as 1/2 summer and was supposed to have the same elements as onigokko, the game itself fell flat, once more losing the "spark" I expected that was present in the above two games. Comedy was abundant - to my shame I understood most of the otaku appealing jokes - but playing through was like prospecting futilely for gold, hoping to find even a tiny morsel, only to find none. It was so disappointing, I rushed through the last girl's route and promptly uninstalled the game, doomed to my box of "wasted money" games.

This leads me to wonder: are there varying production staff for each of Alcot's games? It seems their qualities rise and fall with the years. (or the seasons) It may have something to do with writers, or the staff, or both.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Balzac

This leads me to wonder: are there varying production staff for each of Alcot's games? It seems their qualities rise and fall with the years. (or the seasons) It may have something to do with writers, or the staff, or both.

There are definitely different production teams, and particularly different writers. For example, Honey Comb's latest Aete Mushisuru Kimi to no Mirai ~Relay broadcast~ was written by the same writer who did Shunki Gentei Poco a Poco (and also Kicking Horse Rhapsody). 1/2 Summer, though, was written by a different set of writers (who have worked on games for a bunch of different companies), and Aneiro a different set still (only one in common with 1/2 Summer). Now, Nakahito and Onigokko were written mostly by the same writers (minus one extra writer for Onigokko)... but just being written by the same writers doesn't necessarily guarantee that they'll keep out churning games that you like (or that every work they do will be an equal hit). Some of these writers are in-house writers (employees), and some of them are outsourced/contract writers, so you're not necessarily going to get total consistency between them. Also, the producers may exercise varying degrees of control over varying aspects of the work, and these sorts of things are always subject to personal taste as well.

So yeah, basically... I think buying by brand isn't necessarily going to be any sort of guarantee. You pretty much have to play the trials to see if you like the story. There are some brands that have certain key elements that are generally common through all their works, but even that isn't always the case. In this day and age, it's also inescapably true that some brands are churning out works faster than ever because they're living from game-to-game, so that increases the variability of the output too. Not all brands can afford to be like August -- years between releases but extreme consistency in terms of their products (to the point that some have accused them of being too consistent and repetitive ).