General Eroge Impressions & Discussion

[johnishida]

Damn, that fight against the majin was annoying...

Got my first ending (?) in Corona. Played Murial's route (?) first just causeI can't resist her VA (mainly because she voiced fav. character Sena in Noble Works). Though I liked the slight development for Murial...

Spoiler for Spoiler:

... the rest was just WTF!? I mean, first we have Touka telling her he needs time to think and search for his feelings and three clicks laters, he's suddenly in love leading to a h-scene. At this point, I just didn't care anymore about how insanely fast everything developed but man the even more sudden cliffhanger ending was just too much AND once that's over we are back at the first day of the game...

Aiming for Tokino next. I just hope I get some explanations in either her route or Corona's. Just for the characters, this game could use a fandisk with proper routes... I seriously want one for Kumi and Anastasia. My kingdom for those, as Skyfall would say

[Skyfall]

Now, I might be wrong, but I get the feeling you are misunderstanding something: from what I gathered, you just got your first H scene, soon followed by your first fight against Varga, yes ? After which he

Spoiler for story development:

Kills your whole party, and Tokino turns back the time?

If I understood you correctly and that is indeed the case, then you haven't actually completed the game ... you only completed what can be described as the first chapter, and the story goes on, despite the fact you have been "reset" to day 1 (Your characters retain all your levels/skills as well). So ... yeah, your aiming for Tokino will have to wait (although this "second timeline" should give you something to chew on on that front), until you play through this "timeline" again ... and then again ... and no, I'm not kidding. Welcome to your local Groundhog Day that is Gin no Toki no Corona. It's like experiencing a slightly more variable version of Endless Eight all over again

[johnishida]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

Now, I might be wrong, but I get the feeling you are misunderstanding something: from what I gathered, you just got your first H scene, soon followed by your first fight against Varga, yes ? After which he

Spoiler for story development:

Kills your whole party, and Tokino turns back the time?

If I understood you correctly and that is indeed the case, then you haven't actually completed the game ... you only completed what can be described as the first chapter, and the story goes on, despite the fact you have been "reset" to day 1 (Your characters retain all your levels/skills as well). So ... yeah, your aiming for Tokino will have to wait (although this "second timeline" should give you something to chew on on that front), until you play through this "timeline" again ... and then again ... and no, I'm not kidding. Welcome to your local Groundhog Day that is Gin no Toki no Corona. It's like experiencing a slightly more variable version of Endless Eight all over again

Spoiler for Spoiler:

I don't remember the name of the enemy but, it was a purple-haired woman (after defeating her, she left). After the first h-scene (with Murial), the said woman attacks again but, instead of going SLG mode I get a scene with Murial regretting not being able to fight side by side with Touka and everyone else and after praying for their safety the credits play and we are back to day one.

From your explanation, I can figure out why there was that insanely fast development in the first part (Tokino retained her memories?). That also explains Touka's dreams and probably Murial's first love was also Touka from another time line. Assuming the children she tryed to raise were all Corona then, the loop has been going on at least 8 times now.

As for the second loop. I'm going for Tokino but, should I choose Murial again just in case something changes on this second loop? or does the game goes straight to Murial's route until I'm out of the loop...?

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by johnishida

Spoiler for Spoiler:

I don't remember the name of the enemy but, it was a purple-haired woman (after defeating her, she left). After the first h-scene (with Murial), the said woman attacks again but, instead of going SLG mode I get a scene with Murial regretting not being able to fight side by side with Touka and everyone else and after praying for their safety the credits play and we are back to day one.

From your explanation, I can figure out why there was that insanely fast development in the first part (Tokino retained her memories?). That also explains Touka's dreams and probably Murial's first love was also Touka from another time line. Assuming the children she tried to raise were all Corona then, the loop has been going on at least 8 times now.

As for the second loop. I'm going for Tokino but, should I choose Murial again just in case something changes on this second loop? or does the game goes straight to Murial's route until I'm out of the loop...?

Spoiler for Lots of Corona specific details:

Hrm ... it seems like things progress slightly differently when on Muriel's path (I chose Corona's)

From what I understand, Rezoda is the "final boss" in first "time loop" in Muriel's path? Then it's different from Corona's path indeed, as Rezoda is actually only an underling of Varga (White haired guy in bulky red armor, I assume you haven't seen him yet? In that case, will be interesting to see whether he makes an appearance in your playthrough. I wonder if this is also what marks the difference between Muriel's path and Corona's, which would be the "canon" route - the fact you get to face off with Varga, not just Rezoda, because Rezoda's defeat ultimately means nothing unless Varga is stopped.

But still, you haven't actually completed the story, the first "loop" is the first chapter - the story continues (actually continues, it isn't a start-over) from there - consider the second loop as second chapter. You won't be able to "go for Tokino", because there won't be any choices to make during the "second loop" - you are still on Muriel's path, and will have to beat a couple of more loops - this is all part of her single route (If it follows the same structure as Corona's path), the game didn't "restart", the timeline resets are parts of the singular storylines, and you are still on your first playthrough of Muriel's path.

Basically the structure of the routes is something like this(assuming all are of similar length):

Corona's path
[Loop 1 -> Loop 2 -> Loop 3]

Muriel's path
[Loop 1 -> Loop 2 -> Loop 3]

Tokino's path
[Loop 1 -> Loop 2 -> Loop 3]

It seems you just completed the [Loop 1] part of Muriel's route, which means ~ 33% of her route. You still have two more loops to go (assuming there aren't more than 3 loops ... which would be tedious as hell ) - you won't be able to "go for Tokino" or anything else at this point - Muriel's path isn't over yet, and there are no decision points in loops 2 and 3.

To better illustrate my point, I'll use Corona's path which I am playing now (spoilers beware)

Spoiler for Corona's path, up to third loop:

After chasing off Rezoda (Your purple haired woman), the gang eventually get to face Varga (Rezoda's superior) - and he beats them effortlessly, killing most of them in a single attack. (Touka and Corona became lovers sometime before that battle, enter first H scene) The barely-surviving-Tokino turns back time, hoping to avoid the same scenario. Since Tokino actually retains her memories, she can try to alter the flow of events the second time around.

This is where you are "reset" to the start, the school day when Tokino called Touka to rooftop. (This will be the second "loop" that you get to follow, but Tokino has been reliving it numerous times now - trying to beat Varga in various ways, but failing to do so, resulting in everyone dying and her turning the time back, again and again). Tokino imposes a more rigorous training schedule on the group, and this time they actually manage to kill Rezoda.

Do note that during this "second loop" Touka actually fell in love with Tokino, not Corona, and they consummated said love (meaning a H scene) - you don't get to make any choices regarding this, it happens as part of the story, despite being on Corona's route.

Then comes the fight against Varga, and somehow the gang manage to squeeze out a win this time. Cue celebration back in Tokino's home, as it seems she has reached the "good end" - after countless resets and her loosing hope, Varga is dead, and she has managed to find love in Touka. Happy day, except Corona isn't participating in the party.

Both her and Touka go to Corona's room, only to find that the later has killed herself and left a letter saying that she doesn't want to expose her friends to danger - since someone even stronger than Varga is bound to come and try to steal her power.

Cue drama and Tokino weeping over the fact she has been so focused on rigid training schedules this time, that she had forgotten to teach Corona how to "enjoy life", for lack of a better word. She also blames herself for taking Touka away from Corona (since Corona and Touka became lovers on the first loop), and thus potentially taking away what could have possibly been the anchor for Corona to prevent her from taking such a step.

Unwilling to accept Corona's sacrifice, Tokino rewinds time -again-, and you are back on school-day one, even if it means losing her relationship with Touka and having to live with the bitter memory of it (Since only she retains memories when enacting a time-rewind). So, yeah, I'm on the third loop of Corona's path now, and I assume it to be the last one. There haven't been any choices to make past the first loop (It seems that those 3 choices pretty much determine which route you will follow).

As for the speculation, I don't think the children she tried to raise previously refers to Corona - only Tokino herself retains memories when using the time-rewind ability, so Muriel would have no recollection of any previous loops (And she doesn't). Besides that, the first loop is the first time these specific events take place - on the following routes Tokino won't be surprised to encounter Rezoda (and Varga), will brief the group prior to the encounters about said enemies and their tactics, etc.

[StarFox117]

What ero-games are your favorites at the moment?

Sengoku Rance.

One of the best strategy games I have EVER played. The ero was a bonus.

[erneiz_hyde]

Spoiler for Corona, just in case:

I did Murial first and finished it (H scene and all), then time resets and I enter Corona's route (complete with H scenes). After everyone in the party's dead, I reset again and now seemingly going in Tokino's (though I haven't yet reached the her H scene)

I thought the game has only one true ending so we can play the three available heroine routes in a single playthrough. As in, no matter who you started with, you'll be able to pursue the rest again in the same playthrough with all your skills and levels.

So, been playing Majikoi S too, and focusing on the old heroine's after stories before going to the new scenarios. Though, it's been a long time ago so I just barely recall what happened in their respective routes. And I was reminded about how divergent each route to another was. The Utopia after route felt kinda lacking though, particularly how we were only given a glimpse of Yuki starting to recover.

[Mahou]

Signal Heart Part 2: Nagisa's route. Up to the confession, it felt really slow-progressing after a while. Combined with Hajime's late, late realization AND no freaking "remembrance" of the past "guy"/girl was cringeworthy. Yes, I expect that he remember that cr*p eventually later on, but it would have made the confession scene that much better IMHO.
To express it in a graphic:

Not that he had a faster love-realization in Chisa's route, but it felt that it was better executed.

[velocity7]

For anyone interested, I've translated a majority of the WA2 side stories and posted it on Baka-Tsuki. The last chapter and epilogue should be forthcoming.

http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/in..._Album_2_Omake

[PhoenixG]

Spoiler for Corona:

I've finished Corona and found the story quite lacking. It's pretty much one route with 3 times resetting the time. First loop focusing on Corona, second on Tokino, third on Muriel and fourth the whole picture.
While the it isn't really that a bad thing, it's the ending makes me wonder I hyped over the game. Really cheesy and a sort of harem ending.
Another thing I don't like is the sub characters. No real development. Just some starters introduction and they just fade away in the background.
The thing I do like about this game is the silliness and the return of Yumina's cast.

[velocity7]

Actually finished quicker than I thought... chapter 3 and the epilogue are up.

[Aaerul]

Can anyone recommend me an older game? one from say 1999~ to 2002~?

I want a change of pace from playing latest releases. Looking for Romance and Drama types preferably. The oldest game I have played might be Sore wa Maichiru Sakura no Youni http://vndb.org/v1115 ...

2002... hmm not that old.

I'm so new to this.

[Dhomochevsky]

With games that old, you will have problems to play them on a modern system.
Those would have to be remakes, or you'd possibly need some kind of emulator.

Quick question about Tears to Tiara:
I have a lot of damaging spells, that look different, but their stats are all the same.
Same mp cost, same 'power'. Is there any reason to use one of them over the others?

[Mahou]

I just completed Mirai Nostalgia. I'll be straight with it: From 5 routes, only 2 were nice and 1 was awesome. Despite it's touching moments, I hated it how Hina and Iori treated the main character mostly like crap. It's that kind of humour which I cannot understand at all. Logically, it wasn't better that the main remained more or less useless, either (hetare?). From the dateable cast only Nono, Uta and Anna were good. Uta's could have been much better, but it somehow lacked in impact, even if only romance-wise.
Iori similar, it had some really good moments, but her overall character trait(s) just lessened the mood. At least the last bit with Anna was bitter-sweet.

Kanata should have gotten her own route, imho.
Overall: Anna's route was the real shining grace, if I had to sum it up. Of course, you had to complete the remaining routes before ...
Too bad, since I loved Hatsukoi Sacrament and Signal Heart begins also to "shine" once the confession has been successful. Ignoring that Nagisa in Signal Hearts gets annyoing fast outside of her route.
Akira's route in Signal Heart has been really cute so far. The mid-drama felt well-played and more "pleasant" than Chisa and Nagisa's and its settlement was heart-warming imho.
Chisa's mid-drama was not bad, it had simply a more uneasy feeling behind it.

[Skyfall]

After giving up on Corona (Couldn't stand to finish it ... it's just too tedious and shallow overall, in both character and plot progression), I'm giving Damatte Watashi no Muko ni Nare! a try - mainly because I found both the name and the opening highly amusing. I'm not too far in to the game yet, but so far it offers pretty some pretty decent laughs as far as comedy goes.

The bad part is that I absolutely can't stand either of the two 'main' main heroines - Rin and Reona. Dear lord, what a pair of obnoxious, self-important harpies. I can totally relate to Naoki's headache when it comes to enduring the catfights of these two spoiled brats that come at his expense much of the time! I'd pay for Naoki to get a decision point where he could tell both of them to get lost, for good.

On the positive side, I actually rather like Naoki. As far as male leads go, he ain't too bad - he actually has enough of a character to be displeased with the things happening around him, and enough of a spine to voice his displeasure with both Reona and Rin depending on the situation. (Even though he obviously finds it in himself to tolerate them, somehow, in the end ... a shame ).

Haruka happens to be the saving grace meanwhile, and her interactions with Naoki are pleasant to watch in comparison. She also scored a fair deal of respect points with me after the verbal smackdown she delivered upon both Rin and Reona when the later two took their catfighting too far. (Even if the situation took a turn for the ridiculous afterwards, somehow ).

I'm slightly unsatisfied with how the other main heroines are being treated though - Rin, Reona and Haruka are hogging all the spotlight, and the other 3 have gotten like 10 minutes worth of "screentime" combined. Doesn't really help in deciding which route I want to go first considering I have only seen glimpses of their personalities, but have already encountered ~8 choice selection points. Ah well.

All in all the start has been pretty promising, so I'm looking towards the rest of the story, even if I can't see myself playing either Rin's or Reona's routes (I am, however, looking towards their reactions when Naoki chooses someone else ). Probably going for Haruka's route first, then Yoriko or Kotori, whomever captures my attention more. Either way, anyone besides Rin and Reona looks appealing at this point, even the poor random girl who is desperately trying to confess to Naoki, but keeps being swept away by the ruckus all the time

[Mahou]

I actually pushed myself to finish a route in WLO after my initial - rather average - impression and I revise my first post in that as far as chara development goes, Akabeesoft still manages to satsify me.
I fnished both Arisa and Aina's route.
Arisa: I totally liked her character, but her route felt somehow too much dragged out in the latter part. You had one major drama resolved (which I found well enough, though), recovery time + a handful adorable deredere moments and afterwards the second issue with her overworking risk(s). Her ending was not really romance-focused, but more about Solaris and her. Not too bad, anyways.
Aina: That's how I wished for fluffy, raburabu and ichaicha moments post-confession. A very sweet finale and an adorable "epilogue". My only complaint is that I found her pre-confession drama (aka the past between Yuuki and her) a bit lame. It was played out decent enough, but a mutual misunderstand for more than three years(?) that caused that awkward atmosphere wasn't really my preferance
And from what I've seen so far on Sarasa's route, her drama/second branching point between Arisa and her route was quite moving. The CG during it was very well done.

And a short spoiler of the awesome parts in Mirai Nostalgia

Spoiler for Mostly Anna's route:

As I mentioned in my prior post, Anna's route was for me the shining grace of Mirai Nostalgia. The tense + tender moments between Yoichi and Anna were really moving like the first kiss CG and all the moments where Anna revealed her fragile side. Especially the scene at the church where she cried that she doesn't want to disappear or die, but just wants to stay with Yoichi forever even if it means to sacrifice her special power. Here I thought that such a miracle would actually happen, but the ending was provided in another manner. The wedding ceremony was another cute moment, if only because I'm simply a fan of these VN moments .
And I loved the future memory she showed him. The farewell scene between Anna and Kuro was sad as well as Future-Yoichi's final moment. I was kinda surprised that they made Iori the canon choice for the future even though she had already died due to her ability going berserk which also lead to Yoichi's condition. Future-Uta was quite beautiful.
Anna's ending was nice as in that the present time-Anna received the memories of Future-Anna so that they could still be together, but at the same time it felt a bit strange. At least Future Anna and Present-Yoichi had resolved that their parting would be without regrets.

Time to finish Akira's story in Signal Heart + a short peak into Kokone's.

[judasmartel]

Sorry to spoil your fun, but I have a couple of questions.

1. Is it possible that girls are better eroge players than boys? Aside the fact that a lot of eroges portray girls' POVs and otome games portray boys' POV, I find that boys seem to fail their desired routes a lot the first time they play without a guide handy so they tend to find an easier route just to complete the game, while girls seem to complete their desired routes the first time with little to no effort.

This is only based on my observations, but I'm not sure if it is true in general. Can somebody please enlighten me?

2. Who's the TOP FREAKING PERCENTAGE of all eroge seiyuus nowadays?

[Balzac]

Your first question includes some points that are quite anecdotal, and in addition, irrelevant to the enjoyment of eroge. It would be difficult to prove "better" in terms of playing visual novels, as there is no difficulty that can be rightfully invoked in playing, since the medium used is similar to the portrayal of a book. Those games which have added artificial difficulty in the form of additonal gameplay are a dissimilar, but not quite different sort of boat, to which is attached the distinction of belonging to a different sub-genre. (adv, srpg, etc.)The elements which we in the niche are concerned with: plot, character, setting, themes, etc. - elements which other avid book-readers are concerned with - are consistently open for perusal without rendering themselves to any sort of "difficulty". If there is a difficulty that would be perceived in visual novel reading, it's perhaps in finding the time to slog through it all.

Admittedly, it can be quite difficult for reaching 100% completion on games that rely on the invisible flag system.

I would like to see a link or survey detailing differences between people in terms of playing rate with added factors of sex, gender, class, religion or ethnicity, but in my opinion it's again an unnecessary thing to pursue as people who appreciate eroge are united in their appreciation of the little bit of things of Japanese culture that reveal themselves to and are appreciated by the readers in the form of the games. Whether or not blitzing through and saving at every opportunity of a choice, or skipping through to desired (and obvious) scenes of "preferred" heroines, each individual's enjoyment is different, whether boy or girl, human or mutated shut-in. And in all possible cases, it would be difficult to validate said preferences and gaming ability over the internet, unless you could hold a convention for visual novel readers and take stock of the population differences.

And seriously, there's nothing wrong with consulting a walkthrough. For users of the CTRL-dozers like me though, nothing beats spoiling yourself through the useless scenes in order to get to the meat, so even without a walkthrough, one gets to the (preferred) end anyway.

The second question even points forward from my statement: inevitably there will be all-stars from every player's opinions, but there will always be that private favorite VA for each person.

And with that: Shizuka Ito.

[erneiz_hyde]

Just finished Majikoi S. It was a blast, as always! The crazy battles were exciting as usual, and the ero content just upped a few levels. the "bad ends" were all hilarious, and most of the time it was delivered by Miyako who threw in some meta-lines lol.
I'm not sure what character Hazakura's real identity was, I looked up a bit and found Xiang Yu, but I'm not sure if that's the one.
Oh, and btw, I seem to miss the very last events in the events section in omake, but I'm quite sure I have exhausted all the routes, how do you unlock them?


Btw, I'd like to share something. I was trying to play Kourin no Machi, but I was surprised and my heart aches as I play it. I was not mentally prepared for it, because I have a rather strong dislike for harsh social themes such as these. Not that I hate it, it's more like...苦手 rather than　嫌い. I guess it was a mental scar from the time I played Yumemiru Kusuri. In yumemiru, the heavy feeling was rewarded with just retribution at the end, so I hope this would be the case for Kourin no Machi as well, because I'd hate it if the solution was disappointing (though knowing Akabe, I doubt it would be bad). Long story short: can anyone please tell me whether this is the case? I need a confirmation to better prepare my heart before playing this lol

[Mahou]

Originally Posted by erneiz_hyde

Btw, I'd like to share something. I was trying to play Kourin no Machi, but I was surprised and my heart aches as I play it. I was not mentally prepared for it, because I have a rather strong dislike for harsh social themes such as these. Not that I hate it, it's more like...苦手 rather than　嫌い. I guess it was a mental scar from the time I played Yumemiru Kusuri. In yumemiru, the heavy feeling was rewarded with just retribution at the end, so I hope this would be the case for Kourin no Machi as well, because I'd hate it if the solution was disappointing (though knowing Akabe, I doubt it would be bad). Long story short: can anyone please tell me whether this is the case? I need a confirmation to better prepare my heart before playing this lol

Kourin no Machi is kinda a special case. Like most Akabee's game this one is also divided in multiple chapters. The overall drama theme outside of each girl's personal experience ends in good terms in the third-last or second-last chapter or so. Whereas the drama for the MC is resolved in the remaining main chapters. Afterwards, you simply have the drama that occurs during the relationship (I tend to call it epilogue-drama).

Similar to Sharin no Kuni you have no real romance focus during the main storyline outside a confession and one h-scene. Every girl has her personal moment(s) with the main lead. You also haven't such heavy cases like Aeka's story of Yume Miru Kusuri. The game has its light-hearted moments.
KnM's issue is about starting a Kendo school club within a time limit. The problem? The homeroom teacher hates Kendo and tries with the school principal to prevent it. If the club cannot be built within that limit the main lead will be expelled from school (this part is the condition to even allow the attempt of making the club). Obviously the main girls are the required members and helping them during their first-layer drama leads to getting them to join .
------
Finished 4/5 routes in LovelyxCation.
Yuuki > Misasa > Aya > Yuni. Sadly, Yuni's only memorable scenes were the last two moments (the letter + school rooftop). These two alone made her deserve her happy end so very much, though.
I'll venture into Sera's route sometimes later. I enjoyed Aya's character, but her route was imho average. Misasa's was quite sweet and I was glad that there was no forced drama with the teacherxstudent problem. Yuuki's route had the most "substance", I thought. Her finale made me dislike her father. Glad that the main spoke out his thoughts.

[Balzac]

Originally Posted by erneiz_hyde

Oh, and btw, I seem to miss the very last events in the events section in omake, but I'm quite sure I have exhausted all the routes, how do you unlock them?

As far as I remember, there is only one bonus scene involving that displaced warrior girl from er...the name escapes me at the moment, the group Momoyo belongs to of four strong women... If you've seen that, then maybe Koyuki's mega-route?

If you mean missing some stuff on the bottom page in events, you may have not watched the tutorials yet.

Edit: Kourin no Machi was too heavy even for my tastes - I mean I was sort of expecting that development in each route's climax when I got to putting the pieces together (doesn't make it any less of a dropkick in the back) .... Though after the Akiba ga nai thing it's kinda understandable for Akabesoft to return to making those types of games...

Though in terms of social themes that connects to the real world, Yumemiru got Kourin beat ("realistic" as opposed to fictional figurative).