General Eroge Impressions & Discussion

[Mahou]

I looked a bit, aka just the first 10+ minutes, into Hanairo Heptagram and Shukufuku no Kane no Oto wa, Sakura-iro no Kaze to Tomo ni.
Hanairo's MC seems to be the "carefree and donkan"-archetype and my first thought was, when he didn't recognize his childhood friend, an ironic "Useless" Of course if I were to hold on to only this aspect I wouldn't have much VNs to play in the long run :P.
Shufuku no Kane's Maria made me think immediately of Airi in Mashiro-iro Symphony <3, which I consider as a big plus.
Edit: I cannot seem to really warm up to Hanairo Heptagram, maybe it's just me, but the beginning parts just seem quite boring to me. In my case it's more like that I hardly "feel" anything, neither positive things nor negative things I could grasp to explain that "strangeness".

I also skip-cleared Charlotte's route in Princess Lovers. Now, while I'm not that fond of the VN, Charlotte was easily my favorite character with her open, bright and honest personality. Her drama was nothing too surprising, but could have been shortened a bit, or at least combined at a few parts instead of making a seperate deal out of it
The outcome + the path both chose was a huge "sacrifice" given the overall social setting of the VN.

[doyalike]

Has anyone here played Kitto, Sumiwataru Asairo Yori mo? I'm hoping for something heartwarming-ish after reading Hatsuyuki Sakura. It was well written, but I should probably avoid eroge that I KNOW will depress me...

[erneiz_hyde]

Originally Posted by doyalike

Has anyone here played Kitto, Sumiwataru Asairo Yori mo? I'm hoping for something heartwarming-ish after reading Hatsuyuki Sakura. It was well written, but I should probably avoid eroge that I KNOW will depress me...

I've played that. It depends on what's "depressing" for you. For example, I have a mental block that seriously skews my ability to start reading stories themed around bullying or social discrimination (I didn't originally have this, but it sort of grew as I play more VNs with these themes). This VN has a little of this, but it's written in such a way that I didn't really mind too much(it's not a central point). The conflicts in this VN can get somewhat heavy, but it isn't all that dark and gritty. There are quite plenty of jokes and humor and the occasional "fluffy" scenes slipped in now and then helps alleviate the mood.

And, I haven't read Hatsuyuki Sakura, so I don't really know what kind of "heartwarming" you seek. But let's just say that the true ending of this VN is one of the more "beautiful" that I've read.

[Cosmic Eagle]

I think he means he needs something to heal the aftermath of Hatsuyuki Sakura...

Coz the story is one of those bittersweet ending types

[erneiz_hyde]

Originally Posted by Cosmic Eagle

I think he means he needs something to heal the aftermath of Hatsuyuki Sakura...

Coz the story is one of those bittersweet ending types

I see, then perhaps he should probably put it on hold and go for something like Mashifoni.

[doyalike]

Damn it, it looked all warm and fluffy-like too, but I guess the ending's pretty bittersweet then? I guess I'll put it on hold. I'll look out for Mashifoni, then. Seems like it's pretty lighthearted.

[Mahou]

@Mashifoni: For how much my opinion may be worth it, as with other VNs there's (at least) one route which feels in total less heart-warming compared to others. I found Airi's route very, very satisfying and it remained my favorite route of the VN.

Anyway, as usual my bunch of impressions based on my previous post.
1) I finished two routes of Shukufuku no Kane no Oto wa, Sakura-iro no Kaze to Tomo ni and I really like the VN. The drama is, imho, well-dosed and paced and the cast is quite likeable.

Spoiler:

I loved Maria's route, not only because she reminds me of Airi, but it was simply nice and Shuuji managed to resolve each drama pretty much by himself (of course a bit help was also necessary concerning the more grown-up business).
Secondly, Kana. A very cute, huggable and lovely kouhai. Strangely(?), her drama consisted only of the pre-confession part IIRC and afterwards it was smooth sailing. Unfortunately her route ended - for my taste - a bit sudden in the middle of their summer date.
Still on-going: Urara. The "aggressive"-approaching love-at-first-sight girl of the cast Her drama was done well and the explanation of how she was treated in the "past" made me feel sad for her. The trigger event, though, was a stupidly bad timing + misunderstanding situation which made Urara turn into her "empty" past self . But when it comes to actually doing the deed or kissing, she's pretty shy *lol*.

2) Hana-iro Heptagram: Uhm, ... imho the biggest weakpoint is the main character Hisaya. His donkan was more annoying than with other MCs and his remaining character traits weren't really helpful either. I simply can't see the favor of a "useless-in-school" character trait, regardless if it's caused by being too lazy to actually study or if it's there by default. This trait in combination with being carefree, energetic among others seems to be the standard deal among the different MC types. At least the heroines are all very likeable and lovely and Hisaya and Miyuri's interaction was also enjoyable.

3) Koi-iro Marriage: Mah, the main lead was okay. I thought that it was good in giving him (another) reason to be ecchi and that he was not useless. Mihono's route was very adorable with her advancing feelings for the main lead.
And I liked Nekoko's mini-drama as well. The confession was very sudden, but the mood and atmosphere leading to it was great.

[Balzac]

My two selected games just arrived and I put off a bit fixing my broken window (as cliched a development in real life as in fiction - damn kids) installing and playing Lump of Sugar's Hanairo Heptagram.

My impression is...a sinking feeling of disappointment. The light-hearted country atmosphere at the start is nice and all, but dear gosh where's my comedy? I think I'm halfway through the common route, and haven't found a single moment I could save... (And to me that's a blaring red siren) I'm gonna follow through to at least one route - Koishikawa's - but so far I'm thinking it's been a waste of money - like their previous game I bought, that Prism something. I sure hope the other game delivers...

I knew I should've trusted my instincts, the art style threw me off. Lump of Sugar's really gone downhill since at least Tayutama....2008 was a decent year... Dangit, I haven't had good VN laughs since Dracu-Riot and Rewrite Harvest Festa

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Balzac

My impression is...a sinking feeling of disappointment. The light-hearted country atmosphere at the start is nice and all, but dear gosh where's my comedy? I think I'm halfway through the common route, and haven't found a single moment I could save... (And to me that's a blaring red siren) I'm gonna follow through to at least one route - Koishikawa's - but so far I'm thinking it's been a waste of money - like their previous game I bought, that Prism something. I sure hope the other game delivers...

I've liked most of their games, but a lot of them are in different sub-genres. They're not a company who necessarily tries to make each game similar to the last. For example, I really liked Prism Rhythm, but a lot of people didn't like it because it was so unlike their other games. I wasn't quite as much of a fan of Diamic Days (even though it was a sort of spiritual successor to Prism Rhythm), because it was much more of a comedy (comedy is so hit-and-miss for me, because it really depends on your sense of humour).

If your main criteria is comedy, though, sounds like playing the trials may be a good idea, as you can usually get a pretty good sense of the sort of humour in there. Of course there's always the chance the humour will dissipate once you get into the routes, but you may be able to get a sense of that from the trial too (depending on how far it goes). I find that usually the trial comes out enough in advance that you can still get in a pre-order with the store bonuses, if that's what you're after.

[hyl]

Either my sense of humour is much more easier to satisfy or I have been picking the right eroge every month, i have been enjoying the comedy in eroges that i read for the last 6 months

I agree that a trial should give you some kind of indication if there will be humour. It's unlikely that if the common route does not have much humour, then that the character routes will completely change into comedies. Although the reverse is more happens more often that the character routes ended up having less comedy than the common route (like certain routes in Renai 0 km)


Also this arrived in my mail


Probably because i like the original game so much, i end up liking the manga as well.
Besides removing some content and characters like Miyato and almost all of the "White Graduation" members completely, it stays very faithfull to the Graduation route.

Spoiler for spoiler:

The problem is that manga-only readers miss out on some information like what exactly happened between Aya and Hatsuyuki, this way the last part of the story felt more rushed or incomplete.

Even the bittersweet ending has been (unfortunately) unchanged

[Mahou]

Finished most routes in Canvas 3. As indirectly expected it's a step forward from Canvas 2 in terms of entertainment, but not as strong as Canvas 4. Canvas 3 problems are the usual common deals aka a too dense main lead, sudden ecchi scenes (although 2 at maximum) aka 1 at the same place and "time" after the confession occured and the second randomly thrown in-between without any connection Third, a few story parts didn't feel that coherent. Yet, it has a few really nice soundtracks and Yusa and Rina were my two favorite characters with a well-done confession and Rina's ending felt correctly coherent/pieced together.

Now it's time to finally play Walkure Romance, or at least Celia's route, after reading about it much earlier in this tread and a few times on the web. And I plan to look into Period (hooray to another english fanpatch). And in a few weeks Kyou's if-scenario in Hatsukoi 1/1 .

[Balzac]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

(comedy is so hit-and-miss for me, because it really depends on your sense of humour).

Yes, it is quite variable and subjective among the readers. There are a lot of factors which I believe contribute to a comedic moment that would make them "click" for me. Some of them include character traits present, setting, specific situation, wordplay, and overall wittiness. (boke gags) Though I can't say no to a good ribald joke.

As visual novels aren't exempt from a certain form of intertextuality, I find this also applies to the comedy. Most comedic moments are repeated, sometimes text for text with very much similar situations and contexts among visual novels. For example, there is the gag of the person completely clueless to sex - a sort of "pure" type. Most of the time, they ask the main character or another person about something just mentioned, which usually leads to some humorous denial among those within earshot who are in the know, which then leads to the punchline from the person.

This works for me sometimes, if the factors above I mentioned are present - proper timing, setting, situation, character traits, flow from story, etc. - but there are other times it falls completely flat. A recent example from Dracu-Riot was the character Reo, who had this particular trait, but I found most moments with it "unfunny" as it were. The specific reasons why are not something I'll lay out in a technical fashion, but I'll point out that there were other characters from other games who made the joke "click".

However, using the same game mentioned, I did find Myu's inability to keep a straight face while cracking green jokes hilarious. Repetitive, but it "worked" for me, and made me chuckle each time I read it.

Originally Posted by hyl

I agree that a trial should give you some kind of indication if there will be humour. It's unlikely that if the common route does not have much humour, then that the character routes will completely change into comedies. Although the reverse is more happens more often that the character routes ended up having less comedy than the common route (like certain routes in Renai 0 km)

I think it's pretty much certain that the formula for galge (specifically chara-ges and the similar sub-genres) require much of the humor concentrated on the common routes, as the character routes are used much more for drama (and sex). It's part of why I gravitate more towards those types of games and not to other sci-fi, mystery, thriller, etc., type novels, since they provide the most bang per buck. (Pun literally not intended - I refer to their comedic natures )

[hyl]

Originally Posted by Balzac

I think it's pretty much certain that the formula for galge (specifically chara-ges and the similar sub-genres) require much of the humor concentrated on the common routes, as the character routes are used much more for drama (and sex). It's part of why I gravitate more towards those types of games and not to other sci-fi, mystery, thriller, etc., type novels, since they provide the most bang per buck. (Pun literally not intended - I refer to their comedic natures )

I am the same as you, i prefer those games as well.
It's given that the character routes tend to focus more on the drama in the character routes, but there are some eroge that have a good balance between comedy and drama in the character routes. Like recently for myself it was Naka no Hito nado Inai! .

As for your previous comment about "pure girls", personally i don't like them unless they have more defining character traits that supplement their personality. (like Louis from Naka no Hito nado Inai! )

[DingoEnderZOE2]

Eroge's in general have failed me lately, mainly due to the fact that most eroge's I've seen are either dark revenge ero-ges, NTR, or rape. I haven't encountered any traditional love romance style eroge's that caught my interest from my favorite companies Elf, Leaf, or F&C in a while.....Like Elf lately they've done nothing BUT revenge or NTR style stories but the last good game they did was Biniku no Kaori and Ningen Debris(While that was still a dark game, the ultimate conclusion was very satisfying.)

Last good eroges I played were Canvas 3 and Canvas 4(Though I didn't like it's new forced emphasis on the humor in the game.).

Any recent recommendations for an old school eroge fan who got his exposure into the genre from games like Doukyuusei and Kakyuusei?

[Cosmic Eagle]

Anyone here know what shops in Akiba and Shinjuku sell eroge and games?

Seeing as I'm in Japan on exchange in December, I should try to pick up Ourai no N'gah K'thun and several Eien Shinken source books...

[Mahou]

I'm playing the trial of JustyxNasty by Whirlpool. Did I mention that I've become quite the whirlpool fanboy? Except of Lunaris Filia and Nekodere(?), I liked their VNs much. Anyway, JustyxNasty is based around the MC being sent to a school that's divided into a "holy-school part" and "dark-school part" and he has to become a maou due to his father's demand (who was ironically "classified" as a hero in his younger days ). As the school is going to be combined (or was already merged), the next sport festival aka clash between good and evil shall decide who becomes the head of the school.
Thus each girl is of different "factions", with two girls being ace of the respective school parts, just with opposite personalities (for now).

Spoiler for trial start:

The trial starts with the hero, Kiyoharu, dreaming. He thinks he should go with his mother shopping, but other than bag carrier he'd be of no use. His mother tells him that she raised him with care and love. Suddenly the voice of his father interrupts and adds he was raised to become a Maou and *bam* he wakes up. A mysterious girl is attempting to assault him stating her duty is to slay the Maou. As expected Mr. MC is clueless what's going on. The female assaulter, Mana, is total into "You're the Maou"-mindset because MC noticed she's the type to not listen when someone talks and she thinks that's one of his special powers to digg in her past as well as sensing her "killer aura" . And to his surprise he suddenly wears a mask which makes kim more Maou-like. Thanks to his attempt to smooth-talk his way out his soon-to-be buddy storms in the room due to the ruckus and Mana escapes. MC's first thought "Where the hell am I anyway?" followed by flashbacks of his father and him. Outside of the mask he's quite the handsome guy, comments his soon-to-be buddy, Jun.

When he arrives at school, he encounteres Mana again who acts totally friendly and is classified as cute, which made Kiyoharu wonder until he remembers that that was due to he mask he's not wearing atm. While he drinks some milk, he promptly falls asleep, wut ? Being waked-up he spills the milk over heroine 2, Kirie, aka the top of class for the "dark side", who promply takes an interest in him during their short conversation.
At school it's explained that the "dark section" consists of classes for becoming Maou (aka an elite class), asassin, berserker, black mage, familar, etc. And probably due to his father, MC will attend the elite class. Naturally there's also an internal rivalty/trouble between the two school sections. Oh yeah, later it's revelead that he has the ability to understand the language of animals as he had to listen to the love problems of a pigeon .
Asides of the two afore-mentioned heroines, he also meets his imouto who's on the "hero school side" when he bumped on her at the school corridors and landed with his face against her panty (quite generic, eh?). When he decides to look what's a beginning-trouble is about, he witnesses the quarrel between the two school aces. Kirie's bound-to-be-misunderstood word choice when she remembered the milks spilling incident is the first reason why Kiyoharu attracts attention of the bystanding students, followed by his imouto's comment on how they bumped into eachother, and thirdly when he told which class he'll attend. One of the choice-selections is also some kind of RPG battle choices aka "fight, escape, (run wildly around), guard" when Mana challenges him. Due to the Maou-class everyone naturally thinks he's awesome and ubar.

[hyl]

While Ima Sugu Oniichan ni Imouto da tte Iitai! is not an eroge, i don't have any thread to post about it

The trial of ImaImo looks good. It feels very different from Koichoco, because of the more relaxed and less chaotic atmosphere. Although this game was not the first one to do this, i was surpised that the main character Rikuto was voiced.
While all of the characters are likable (based on my initial impressions, they seem more interesting than the heroines from koichoco) , i have my doubts about the story.

Spoiler for spoiler:

I find it silly that Ayumu, Rikuto's new "stepbrother" , was still hiding that she was a girl even after she and her mother moved in with Rikuto and his father. Plus she had to sleep in Rikuto's room, because their current house doesn't have enough rooms.

edit: forgot to mention that Rikuto was told that Ayumu was a boy who has to pretend to be a girl at school due to strange family reasons

The title suggests that Ayumu will be the main heroine of this story, but i felt that Matsuri was more the main heroine seeing how much she appeared and that her relation with Rikuto looks alot like Yuuki's and Chisato's in koichoco. Let's hope that in the full version you are not forced into Ayumu's route first and have to feel sorry for her (or Matsuri because i see some resemblences of Chisato in her, eventhough she appears less clingy ) in the other routes

There were some blatent cameo's from Koichoco , like appearances of Satsuki (who is an Osananajimi of Matsuri) and Chisato (who is Ayumu's cousin) plus Non-chan and the "monkey's" appearing in the background.

[erneiz_hyde]

Originally Posted by Cosmic Eagle

Anyone here know what shops in Akiba and Shinjuku sell eroge and games?

Seeing as I'm in Japan on exchange in December, I should try to pick up Ourai no N'gah K'thun and several Eien Shinken source books...

If memory (from Lucky Star) serves me right, Tora no Ana? Btw, isn't the comiket in December...? Do you have plans for that...?

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by erneiz_hyde

If memory (from Lucky Star) serves me right, Tora no Ana? Btw, isn't the comiket in December...? Do you have plans for that...?

Nope...it's too late unfortunately. It's right at the end of December.

I'll just leave it for some other time although truth be told, Animelo is more appealing to me. Crowds at Comiket can be quite...daunting

Toranoana....I see. Will keep a look out, thanks.

[Mahou]

Finished 2 3/4 routes of Anata no koto o suki to iwasete. The general premisse was executed quite decently. Finally a koibitogokko that didn't involve some cheap drama like other VNs *coughhatsukoi1/1,lovexcationcough*. However, Yukino's post-couple drama was somehow totally unnecessary even though it was actually slowly building up until the kettle boiled over. Nao, our local osananajimi with a preset-crush on MC was cute and all, but her route in general was rather disappointing. It had its good parts, but the h-scene seemed totally out of place in contrast to Yukino. And the get-together took at lest feeling-wise a looooong time.
Next Isuzu, her route hasn't been too bad overall. It focuses less on the romance and more on Kousuke's "teacher" role in the Kendo club.
Funnily, each relation with a main girl starts as a pretend-to-be relationship (be it couple, teacher/kendo master, newly wedds or onii-chan )

And I startet "carefully" Walkure Romanze's Celia's route. I have already a big hunch about the drama *coughherbrothercough*. Anyway, I liked the common route. When I first looked at some CGs I totally expected Akane to be one of the pew-pew rivals due to the cliché of Black Knights facing the "hero" in most Middle Age movies with knight tournaments . Glad I was proven wrong so far. As with Princess Lover, I'm fairly sure I won't play every route as I'm not too fond of the company's drama scenarios. Celia is a must-play and afterwards maybe Noel or Mio. I like Mio as well and it would feel like her route could have a more or less natural progression of unrelated to jousting to becoming a serious competition (her strong point seemed to be being able to see/notice movements sooner than normal persons during the training for her very first training match, I think).