General Eroge Impressions & Discussion

[Om Nerabdator]

Sengoku Rance.........god i liked that game the........... ran?? (the girl with red hair) route was the best by far for me.
And i loved how rance always reacted around Kenshin espeiaclly how he treats all the other women lol

[Hooves]

Girl with red hair ending? Hmmm, I thought Ran had purple hair. Will this help spur memories if I say Rance hunting red phoenix? If I got the right girl, then yes. Tsundere is definitely the best pick in my occasion Of course Kenshi has to get some credits as well for scaring Rance with direct confessions that makes him back away

[erneiz_hyde]

Just here to check in, and a little experience to share.

Anybody know Shumon Yuu? He(she?)'s a scenario writer among other things, and I've played several of Yuu's games since I started my VN career and I frankly fell in love with them. Thing is, it's so hard to get to the right mood and mental preparation to enjoy his works. So much that it took me 2 years to play Konome and Futami's route in Itsuka Todoku ano Sora ni (I played through Futami's route the first time, bewildered, played it again a year later and immediately followed by Konome's) and I still haven't touched San's route (no spoiler please).

Those who have played Yuu's games should've noticed that his writing style really is a Japanese literary masterpiece, almost like English's Shakespeare. Kanji games, loaded meanings, heavy folk-tale atmosphere, the whole "classic" feeling really hooked me in to his stories though I admit I have a hard time reading through them even now.

Similar case with "Kitto Sumiwataru Asairo yori mo". I've cleared the first route, but it drained me so much that I haven't picked up where I left. And I can't decide whether to touch "Tenshi no Hane wo Fumanai de" or finish what I've left first. Though, I think I'm getting ready to continue ItsuSora soon.

Anybody else here had a similar experience to this?

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by erneiz_hyde

Anybody else here had a similar experience to this?

I can't say that I have quite the same affinity to any particular author, but I definitely know the feeling as far as genres of stories go.

For myself personally, I can play light-hearted romantic games pretty much any time, sort of like junk/comfort food, and never really tire of it. But my favourite games are generally more serious and gripping, with stronger emphasis on story, probably leaning towards "crying games". But I find those sorts of games so draining that I can only play one every once in a while, and I have to really be in the right mood. Since I generally play these games to unwind at the end of the day, it can be hard to get into something that requires so much focus and deep thought/emotion. So I find I put these games off forever and ever, though when I do get to them they generally end up being favourites.

So I know that's a little bit different, but I think it's a similar idea. Sometimes you might love something a lot, but for various reasons you can only take it in small doses. Stories that either involve a heavy investment emotionally (very tense drama, gripping characters, sad plot developments, etc.), or a heavy investment intellectually (difficult writing, complex subjects, etc.) can be hard to work yourself up to.

[Rethice]

Originally Posted by Hooves

We have the same case here Got stuck playing Sengoku Rance on my first playthrough for more then 5 days by constantly repeating and making sure none of my characters die in any battles. While Big Bang Age was a major issue for my first playthrough simply because I didn't want to lose "any" characters especially those faceless people. Making sure I had a sufficient number of people to hold territories and such. The urge for translators to translate "Rance Quest" seems to be on the rage apparently. Although the VN itself is extremely time-lengthy I must say...... Took me about 4 days just to get Kenshin back to her original level....

Alicesoft games are quite addicting with their gameplay elements, but I found other translated gameplay VNs to be quite as interesting as well.

Suzume and Kenshin were by far my favourite characters. I even convinced my ex to cosplay as Suzume for the next local anime convention if I bought/made the costume. I managed to buy the wig, but we broke up before the convention came 'round.

Argh! Don't believe I missed out on that. XD

Can't wait for Rance Quest to be translated. I am looking forward to it, but it's a shame it's more of a traditional dungeon grinder than a conquest game like Sengoku was!

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Soviet

You mean Bishoujo Mangekyou.

No? It's just safe to assume that a VN by omega star with Happoubi Jin's art and animated sex scenes is going to deliver glorious fapping material. Story might be cool who knows, but the main appeal lies obviously in the delicious art.

Ah....I've seen kaleidoscope pronounced as bankakyou too but without any kana I wouldn't know...


So it's THAT kind of game then? Well let's hope the HCG content is damned a lot to make up for the storyline...

[Mahou]

Done with Yuyukana. Dear developers what were you thinking when you brainstormed Kukune's route? I got a few bad end vibes, not only for Kuu-chan specifically and this vibes were anything but a "good" experience. Yes, I skipped quite a few parts.

Now, the game wasn't bad, but it had a handful of drama parts I wished to not encounter again and the repetition of the deus ex machina felt on at least one path quite odd.

Most normal route: I believe Risa's. Then Honoka.
Most tragic: Ako. It felt well "unfair" in the end on how it turned out. Then again, I'm a huge clische-happy end fanboy. Kuu had her share of tragic moments as well, but the bad end vibes were not my taste D:.

I also played Hinata's Terrace, but it had an overall quite boring story development. Strangely it also had a few funny parts where I really had to laugh (I mentioned some time ago, that this is "rare" in my case ). The mainlead, however, was a bit too indifferent and as such too rude towards the girls despite having a not-so-easy past.

[blitz1/2]

Playing Koikishi now, ah, I love all the heroines!

[hyl]

So far from what i have played from the demo from Renai 0 km, the story doesn't make any sense but i like the characters and the SD images.
2 families that only have only have daughters or sons decided to swap one of their children for 3 months. Of course the main character is going first as an experiment. That's probably one of the silliest reasons that i have ever seen/read that a male protagnist is surrounded by girls

[Mahou]

And my latest impressions.
1) Delivera - deliverance of stray: I've read the story synopsis about the guy having some kind of girl-phobia (sans his osananajimi + her sister) and has to move to their location to help at the café and start school there. Sounds normal enough so why not, but then the big surprise: Oh look!? A Shinto shrine? Maybe it's a normal one without mystery it. *MEEP* Wrong, Mahou - we have for you a spirit hunting class mate and will put the mystery in focus. Around halfway in, gone was the plot of the girlphobia and introduced was the supernatural mystery with exorcism and friends - slow and steadily though. I was like "Huh? What, why, when, who?!"
My really normal expectations were thrown completely off-hill so either I was too clueless to realize it in advance or the summaries are misleading

2) Your diary: Nice artwork + "chibi" goddess to bring you luck + girls who have mostly already a thing for the character. Nice! The main lead has been quite nice so far though he's strange at times because he seems to have a rough idea of how likes him more or less, but on the other hand is oblivious to affection shoved in his face. Overall quite the lovely VN, but 2 out of 4 routes have an annoying problem to get the romance past-confession rolling. Either too slow or you did hardly notice it at all (Sayuki *cry* after all the effort put into this moment. Though her route had an epic confession!).

3) Done with Diamic Days' extra scenario: Without spoilers -> I was expecting this couple and oh my, it was a rather unusual experience. A clear case of "You only notice who you love when said person isn't there anymore" in a more toned-down version.

[winhlp32]

http://august-soft.com/daito/index.html

Ah...looks like Eustia was a one time mood swing for Sakakibara Taku.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by winhlp32

http://august-soft.com/daito/index.html

Ah...looks like Eustia was a one time mood swing for Sakakibara Taku.

This isn't terribly surprising because, as tororo-danchou (former? head of Circus) explained once, games without school settings don't sell. (This is why virtually every eroge, regardless of the main subject matter, find some way to tie it to a school setting.)

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by winhlp32

http://august-soft.com/daito/index.html

Ah...looks like Eustia was a one time mood swing for Sakakibara Taku.

Well Eustia was the best they made IMO...

Wonder what this one will be about...

This isn't terribly surprising because, as tororo-danchou (former? head of Circus) explained once, games without school settings don't sell. (This is why virtually every eroge, regardless of the main subject matter, find some way to tie it to a school setting.)

Nitro+ and Light say hello

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Cosmic Eagle

Nitro+ and Light say hello

...like all over-generalizations, obviously there will be some companies that can buck the trends and be successful (though even a bunch of their games have school as a setting, even if isn't the primary focus). But, as an incidental point of reference, school is the fourth most tagged term on VNDB behind "sexual content", "ADV", and "male protagonist". So, even though it's not truly a "rule", it's a fairly reasonable generalization.

[erneiz_hyde]

Huh? So does that mean Eustia didn't sell well? I thought it should do decent because it's really a good game (and the last one that I completed recently, which is rare nowadays).

Spoiler for regarding Eustia:

Oh, btw speaking of Eustia: In a setting like that and none of the main heroines have lost their virginity? I'd expect at least Elis but she's still virgin until Caim get to her route. Poor Ellis got houchi-purei lol.

Oh, btw I got a little to...what was it? Mirai Nostalgia? and frankly, I got too tired playing it because I had to do too many tsukkomi . It's as if Shinpachi from Gintama became a galge shujinkou. It's very interesting though, so maybe I'll continue later. Gaaah, too many galge I've left unfinished and they just keep coming.

[larethian]

Originally Posted by Cosmic Eagle

Well Eustia was the best they made IMO...

Wonder what this one will be about...

Eustia was great, but I still prefer FA with most of the routes serving some purpose in foreshadowing, and needed to unlock true. In Eustia, aside from Licia's route, which overlaps with true, only true route, Tia's route, was worth reading. The omake were hardly interesting to me.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by larethian

Eustia was great, but I still prefer FA with most of the routes serving some purpose in foreshadowing, and needed to unlock true. In Eustia, aside from Licia's route, which overlaps with true, only true route, Tia's route, was worth reading. The omake were hardly interesting to me.

FA has more play value as a game for certain.

It's just that I slightly prefer Eustia's story and narrative experience over FA's

[erneiz_hyde]

OK, so recently I've been playing Mashiro-iro Symphony because the anime is ongoing (I haven't watched it past ep.1 actually). I went (still at) Sena's route. I've gotta say, I can't remember exactly the last time I felt this fluffy. It's like I'm back at high school. Sena is DANGEROUSLY CUTE in her route, and her interaction with Shingo is more icing on the cake. Very Sweet. I can't help but smile like a little girl playing this.

[Cosmic Eagle]

That tends to be the draw with most school eroge really....it makes you remeber your own high school days.

[Mahou]

Originally Posted by erneiz_hyde

OK, so recently I've been playing Mashiro-iro Symphony because the anime is ongoing (I haven't watched it past ep.1 actually). I went (still at) Sena's route. I've gotta say, I can't remember exactly the last time I felt this fluffy. It's like I'm back at high school. Sena is DANGEROUSLY CUTE in her route, and her interaction with Shingo is more icing on the cake. Very Sweet. I can't help but smile like a little girl playing this.

Oh, I have started to play it as well . Honestly, I was quite surprised on the character arts. I don't know what to think of it. The characters appear in the VN less serious-looking due to the rosy cheeks. It's not childish, but more playful? I cannot find the right words as usual to describe it. The difference between anime-Airi and VN-Airi (at least in the beginning) makes them look quite different. Or Miu who looks in the anime older or maybe simply taller than her VN-version.

But I haven't reached the first choice selection, yet because I alternate between Mashiro-iro and Lunaris Filia. The latter is another vampire-focused VN although not quite like FA. Even if I knew japanese on a good enough level, I think I would need a special fantasy-esque terminology for it