General Eroge Impressions & Discussion

[hyl]

Timepiece Ensemble didn't even have that many music tracks. They even reused some from 1/2 summer

[blitz1/2]

Originally Posted by hyl

Timepiece Ensemble didn't even have that many music tracks. They even reused some from 1/2 summer

Weren't they by different studios I forgot?

[hyl]

Originally Posted by blitz1/2

Weren't they by different studios I forgot?

Different companies , yes.
But Timepiece Ensemble and 1/2 summer have the same composer (Ookawa Shigenobu), the same main writer (1/2 summer had Wakase Ryou ,while TE has Wakase Ryou and Ririri as the writers) and same artist (Sesena Yau)

edit: while on the subject of Timepiece Ensemble, i liked it overall more than 1/2 summer. The story was better (especially Nanami's route had a surpisingly good final act) aside from the somewhat shoehorned in Kuroha and Tetmet showing up as too many times as the deus machina in some routes and the horrendous route that Sasa had
My complaint about is that the system feels rushed and unfinished (no titlescreen, the CG , scene and music modes are at the top right corner of the screen) and some bugs (which were probably fixed in 1.01 but i read through the unpatched 1.00 version). And I really didn't like Sasa's story and the worst thing is that i read her story first because by picking the Nanami choices without clearing the other routes, you will end up in Sasa's route

[Mahou]

Originally Posted by hyl

edit: while on the subject of Timepiece Ensemble, i liked it overall more than 1/2 summer. The story was better (especially Nanami's route had a surpisingly good final act) aside from the somewhat shoehorned in Kuroha and Tetmet showing up as too many times as the deus machina in some routes and the horrendous route that Sasa had
My complaint about is that the system feels rushed and unfinished (no titlescreen, the CG , scene and music modes are at the top right corner of the screen) and some bugs (which were probably fixed in 1.01 but i read through the unpatched 1.00 version). And I really didn't like Sasa's story and the worst thing is that i read her story first because by picking the Nanami choices without clearing the other routes, you will end up in Sasa's route

Yeah, Nanami's route final conclusion was done quite well. I'm also quite happy that Kuroha added her little extra service at the very end (when her words appeared in the sky) so that the last CG could happen.
Yes, I need that kind of sweetness instead of only a "greater good > personal happiness" conclusion

[DorkingtonPugsly]

A few hours till the reveal of the new Empress game website. :>

EDIT: Yeeesss! It's finally here! Girls are looking gorgeous as expected. Somehow I feel they're doing a more friendly game this time (i.e. less extreme fetishes) so more can enjoy it, perhaps...

http://www.will-game.com/empress/PA/top.html

[Random Wanderer]

Just started (really just started) Hoshizora no Memoria. All I can say so far is that the imouto is so incredibly energetic that I kind of love her already despite thinking how annoying it would be having to deal with her on a daily basis... It's an odd feeling. "Man, I wouldn't be able to stand this girl in real life, but I find that rather loveable here."

[hyl]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

Just started (really just started) Hoshizora no Memoria. All I can say so far is that the imouto is so incredibly energetic that I kind of love her already despite thinking how annoying it would be having to deal with her on a daily basis... It's an odd feeling. "Man, I wouldn't be able to stand this girl in real life, but I find that rather loveable here."

Her constant Onii-chan, Onii-chan, Onii-chan at the beginning while interupting the main character was very annoying

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by hyl

Her constant Onii-chan, Onii-chan, Onii-chan at the beginning while interupting the main character was very annoying

I find it hilarious somehow. I would hate it if she was doing it to me, but in the game the way she's always so energetic about it just makes me laugh.

[Mahou]

I played the trial of MeltyMoment by hooksoft.

And I have to say that their titles really fluctuate in terms of being fun (for my standards) or at leat I can't get come to terms with their humor of the MC either getting into silly misunderstanding, talks "sweetly" so that other girls misunderstand or does something embarassing and reaps the resigned stares of his harem. The bgm that playes during it sounds like circus music when the clowns appear *lol*. This kind of humor/joke is fine if used sparingly, but throwing it at my face in what seems like every second scene (based on my guts instinct), has deepened my friendship with the ctrl-key =/.
Then again except maybe LovelyQuest most of hooksofts common routes were either boring or due to the humor "stupid", thus promoting ctrl-abuse in my case. So far I played mostly for the chara-route icha-icha .

And because I love to repeat it, I d o. n o t. l i k e. comedy based on that horrible trait of the MC being equally horrible at school .

Started playing the latest lump of sugar title. Renri, the MC, feels a bit strange, though. How to put it, as if he's lacking of showing (much) emotions or as if he's just responding to the emotions of others. He's still the gentle, kind and caring guy, but outside of it it's the before-mentioned. Maybe it's some kind of plot point considering the mystery of the world.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

Just started (really just started) Hoshizora no Memoria.

Ok, after completing Komomo's route I am highly disturbed by the possibility that

Spoiler:

any time I do any route other than Komomo's or Kosame's, Kosame will end up committing suicide offscreen somewhere.

[Wild Goose]

So about 7-8 years ago I played Sexy Beach 3 from Illusion, which was a harmless fun game that I suppose was essential DOA Extreme Beach Volleyball, without the volleyball, other activities, and barely-there swimwear, but with the ero that DOAX lacked. (Certainly it was a welcome change in tone and pace from Illusion's infamous previous game.) Cleared the whole game without actually understanding what was going on. So, decided I'd try it out again, since it now has a full English translation.

...somehow, despite running it on a rig that can play Crysis and Skyrim in Ultra, it doesn't seem to look significantly better than the last time I played it? Though it does seem to run a lot smoother than on my laptop.

Anyway, thoughts... Eo's route, which I'm going through first, apparently takes place after A-GA. It's kinda funny in that she appoints you the commander of the finance squadron and then mooches off you. Ah, well.

Of course, one "disadvantage" of starting anew from a full game is that I now have seven girls to clear, as opposed to clearing 5 girls from June-December 2006, and then two more girls from December 2006-January 2007. Ah well, here's to unlocking everything. Again.

It's funny though. I think the iPad would make a great platform for VNs, ero and non, due to how you mostly keep clicking to go forward. Yet nobody seems keen on porting to the iPad... unless, like Sony, Apple has a no-ero policy I'm not aware of.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

Yet nobody seems keen on porting to the iPad... unless, like Sony, Apple has a no-ero policy I'm not aware of.

They definitely have a no-ero policy for anything in the App Store. Even the Google Play store won't allow a lot of things, but the ability to sideload applications and otherwise install apps from unofficial sources bypasses this issue on that Platform.

[Wild Goose]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

They definitely have a no-ero policy for anything in the App Store. Even the Google Play store won't allow a lot of things, but the ability to sideload applications and otherwise install apps from unofficial sources bypasses this issue on that Platform.

That explains it. I was hoping it wasn't the case, but considering the wide userbase of the iPad... yeah, I can see where Apple might want to sidestep that potential controversy.

Another argument for getting an Android tablet - or at least jailbreaking my iPad, I guess.

Still, this is one of the sillier points in the whole PC vs Console debate. "Buy PC so that you can play eroge!" Not a very compelling argument - and not one I'd want to make in real life!

[hyl]

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

That explains it. I was hoping it wasn't the case, but considering the wide userbase of the iPad... yeah, I can see where Apple might want to sidestep that potential controversy.

Another argument for getting an Android tablet - or at least jailbreaking my iPad, I guess.

Still, this is one of the sillier points in the whole PC vs Console debate. "Buy PC so that you can play eroge!" Not a very compelling argument - and not one I'd want to make in real life!

There are eroges on the android, but those are very few and are handled by companies using their own kind of apps. (plus the majority of the ported games are nukiges)
However , there are all ages ports of older eroges and some slightly more recent games (like Sinclient, Monobeno, Natsu no Owari no Nirvana and Sakura, Sakimashita, Shinigami no Testament) on the google market released by moeapp, eventhough some of the more recent titles are just trials

[Random Wanderer]

Man, Yume's route in Hoshizora no Memoria is hard on the heart. Like they had a contest going: "How many times can we make it look like things are about to turn around, and then suddenly hit you with another tearjerker?!"

I'm not sure I even want to try doing Mare's route after going through all that...

[Mahou]

So~ another german-time nightly impression featuring Sekai to Sekai no Mannaka de.
3/4 routes done.
Let's begin with the bad; short and swiftly:
- The way the happy ending was achieved. Minori and Kokoro's achieval of happy end felt unfortunately rather unexplained, maybe somewhat artificial.
(- if you have seen one route, the secret of the world is to a degree already known, except the exact role of someone)

The good:
- The romance: Aira and Kokoro's were extremly lovely and "awwww". Renri's rather lack of emotion (which actually has a reason) during Minori's lessend it somewhat
- Aira's route: The complete package without the stuff mentioned in the previous section was much to my liking. The moments leading to the confession and Renri's actual display of more emotions/expressions made her route maybe the strongest of the three
- The drama/serious moment conclusion was for me touching, which counts as a plus in my book of drama traumas
- I enjoyed the theme of distance between humans during Haruka's route and how it was used to increase the closeness between the two

The average:
- Aira's past was within the supernatural in-verse too strange. And her epilogue (as in the scene post credit roll) was for me a big question mark
- Kokoro's route outside of the romance was actually a stark contrast of the others. The secret of the world (maybe also just one part of it?) was revealed much earlier which lead to uhm ... unexpected events for some of the other cast (depending which route was played first, that is) + the way Renri and she became conscious of each other was due to this contrast a bit forcefully done.
- Haruka's past was fine by itself, but her existance during it wasn't really what I expected *lol*

Fav. route order: Aira > Kokoro = Haruka >= Minori

@MeltyMoments: Out of all heroines, Natsuki is definitely the most loli-related/childish? (Takeru is only called a lolicon during misunderstandings concerning her), but her character development during her early two chapters was great. Because it happened also outside of the romance perspective.

[hyl]

I finished the latest game from Minori 12 no Tsuki no Eve last week and i wanted to like it , but i could not like it because of the main story


The story is about Naoto and his 2 childhood friends: the elder sister Mizuka , the younger sister Anzu and the mysterious transferstudent Yuki. The game has no choices but it actually has 3 stories

edit: warning my writing is terrible and monotonous though


First one is that you have to play is Mizuka.

Spoiler for summary Mizuka's story:

At the start of the story , she wanted to pair up Naoto with Anzu because she is aware that her younger sister has feelings for him. But not surprisingly Mizuka also has feelings for Naoto. But later Naoto confesses to her and they become a couple. Anzu is able to notice that and confronts them and some small drama ensues. Anzu runs angrily away from the 2 and Mizuka tries to run after her but she falls (very high, because they were on a staircase on a large hill) and gets injured.

A few days passes and Naoto hears from Anzu that Mizuka has recovered but with 1 problem: Mizuka has lost her memories. Not every memory but only her memories of all the people she knows, including Naoto and even her sister Anzu (which basically resets her relationship with everyone).
Mizuka tries to adjust to all of this and eventually breaks because she feels that she is living someone else's life and Naoto comforts her and promises to her that to stay with her despite all of this and he will start making new memories with her.

Next day the old Mizuka returns and she has no memories of what happened after she fell and everything seems normal for everyone, but.... the day after it's the "newer" Mizuka who resurfaces. After going to the hospital the (loli) doctor thinks that after the accident there are 2 Mizuka's: for convenience "Mizuka A" and "Mizuka B". It's somewhat like schizophrenia, but instead of being different characters (both have the same exact personalities), the differences lies in their memories. "Mizuka B" breaks down even more , because the resurfacing "Mizuka A" is basically ruining her newly started life but calms down after a while.

The 2 Mizuka's keep switching , but slowly Mizuka A is showing up less.
After a few diagnoses, (loli) docter hypothesizes that "Mizuka A" is the one that will eventually disappear , but this is a problem for Naoto and basically everyone else who knew her.
At this point Naoto doesn't want to lose either Mizuka and Mizuka A was starting to be aware that she is going to disappear and basically resigns to that fate. But at the same time Mizuka B doesn't want that to happen , because she knows that it will hurt all the people around her. Because Mizuka B knows how much Naoto loved the previous Mizuka, she can't stand the idea of Naoto getting sad of it. Naoto reassures to her that no matter what happens that he will accept it and will stay with Mizuka B even if Mizuka A is gone.
Mizuka A shows up for the last time and after some talk she disappears

;_;
A week passes and life has gone normally and Mizuka finds a video that the old Mizuka recorded on her phone, which is a final farewell message to everyone she knew

And the story ends with Naoto saying that he will keep his promise with the current Mizuka and he says that he will slowly tell her what all of his memories with the previous Mizuka was and that they should look forward to the future


imo the best story in 12 no Tsuki no Eve for the emotional drama

I am keeping this one short because her story was fairly standard and while not bad, it was not that great either

Spoiler for Anzu:

Basically Anzu has some family issues or minor trauma of being unable to cope with when she was a child that her mother left the family to run off with someone else.
After Mizuka fell because her anemia, Anzu blames herself because she felt that she should have been there for her elder sister because during all of it Anzu dating Naoto. Anzu feels like that she has been betraying her family for her own selfishness, just like what her mother did and decides to break up with Naoto and wants to go back to their previous relationship when it was the 3 (or rather 4, if you include Yuki)of them and even goes as far of wanting her elder sister paired with Naoto
Mizuka notices this and says that she can't do that because Naoto has choosen Anzu and reassures Anzu that she is nothing like their mother .
Naoto confesses to Anzu again and they get back together. Anzu makes one last "call" to her mother at the phonebooth (didn't explain that earlier, but she occasionally tried using the phonebooth in the town to get in contact with her mother but was unsuccesfull every time ) as a farewell and the story ends with Anzu and Naoto together when it started to snow

And the final story was about the actual true heroine Yuki and while i did like her character, her story was a huge mess

Spoiler for Yuki:

Throughout the previous 2 stories it is told that Yuki is Naoto's daughter from the future. She never knew her mother because she died when Yuki was very young and Naoto destroyed all pictures of her and avoids talking about her.
Yuki's relationship with her father is not that good, because Yuki doesn't see him that much and it seems to her that he has been avoiding her.
Yuki has a unknown chronical uncurable disease that is according to the (same loli) doctor very likely inherited from her mother and that sickness hindered her life alot.

Due to unexplained supernatural reasons, Yuki has the ability with very limited usages to leap back in time with the help of a timeslip. She does that by holding her hand around one of the burning candle that only she can see and every time she does that that candle burns out.
Yuki tried changing her fate by altering who Naoto ended up with (in Mizuka's story, Yuki prevented Anzu's confession in Anzu's story Yuki took Mizuka away a few times so that Anzu and Naoto could spent more time together) and at the end of each story she slips back to her own time. However, her condition did not get better , but it worsened every time.
After slipping back the 2nd time, Yuki was completey paralyzed. Desperately, Yuki uses her ability for the last time (since there was only one burning candle left)

When she is back in the "present", her sickness is starting up again but this time much earlier than the previous 2 timeslips. She still has a medicine that supresses the symptons and it seems that it slowly starts to get less effective.

This time from the perspective of Yuki it's explained how she was able to transfer to the school and how she become friends with the Naoto, Mizuka and Anzu.
Naoto notices that the always energetic Yuki has been more depressed and when Yuki is absent at school he goes to her house.
He finds Yuki at her bed and she was unable to move and it's because of her sickness. She tells him that her disease is not treatable in this timeperiod and tells Naoto that she is from the future and has tried redoing the past for 2 times already.
Yuki also admits that she has no idea what to do this time, because she had no plans and only did it to escape the suffering while she was at the hospital.

Naoto says that Yuki can stay in his house, because his parents are gone on a bussiness trip and this way she doesn't have to be alone like when she was bedridden. Yuki takes Naoto's offer and they live together with ironically a relationship similar as a father and daughter .

Yuki held her facade of being the always cheerfull and when she was gone , Naoto goes back to place that Yuki likes to go when she is depressed. He manages to comfort her and takes to opportunity to confess to Yuki. Something that Yuki could not have imagined, but she still accepts the confession.
After they had sex, Yuki tells Naoto that she is his daughter from the future..

While Naoto is surprisingly not very much bothered about Yuki being his future daughter because he loves her , he is more concerned about Yuki's illness. So they go to the hospital to check on Yuki's condition and Yuki is apparently fine because our modern day medical equipment can't seem to detect any problems with Yuki's body.
And Yuki's medicine that supresses the symptons of her disease is slowly running out because she has to take it more frequently and the medicine can't be reproduced because it's made of unknown components for our current medical science.

Yuki's conditions worsens, because she almost runs out of all of her pills and it becomes so severe that she has to stay bedridden for whole days. Yuki doesn't want Naoto to get so worried about her and resume his school life, because Naoto is starting to remind Yuki of her father and realized that her father was constantly worried about her.
Eventually Yuki takes her last pill and decides to spent her last moment with Naoto (aka H-scene) and then an epilogue.

*this would have been a good point to end the story, but unfortunately the story gets worse*

Naoto decices to marry Yuki and fortunately the docter was able to partially reproduce Yuki's medicine. While it is less effective than what Yuki brought from the future , but it was good enough so that she could live a more normal life.
Some time later Yuki gave birth to a daughter who they named Yuki (different Kanji), but happiness could not last as the weaker reproduced medicine become insufficient for Yuki. Then after a rough hospitalization Yuki succumbs from her illness.
After Yuki's death, the doctor thinks that the daughter Yuki has very likely the same disease as her mother.

Many years later, Naoto's daughter Yuki has grown up and she looks identical as her mother. On Yuki's birthday , she says that she is able to see a burning candle and Naoto gets worried back in his room and realizes something really bad.
He thinks that his daughter Yuki has the same powers of slipping back in time as the mother and they are possibly the same
*the story started to make little sense here)*
Then Yuki is starting to show signs of dizziness like her mother when the sickness started. Naoto fears that history will repeat itself as a loop and started to despair.
1 year passes and Naoto has distanced himself from Yuki by locking himself more often in his room and spending less time with her. But before it's too late he realizes that his current actions looks similar to why the first Yuki traveled back in the time and comes out of room (and this scene looks mostly as the scene in the prologue) and wants to stop his daughter from doing the same.
The difference is that this Yuki never intended to touch the candle, because at some time she was told by her mother not to. Naoto recouncils with his daughter and tells Yuki what her mother did and also says that he distanced himself from her because he was afraid of what happened.
Because of Yuki (the mother) spirit or memories or whatever appeared, Naoto was at that moment able to see the burning candles that Yuki (the daughter) can see and he thinks that he can go back in time instead of his daughter.

The older Naoto comes back as his younger self (most likely because he has a body at that time) at the moment before Yuki took her last pill. He stops Yuki from taking it and slowly explains to Yuki what happened to them in the future (the whole timetravel loop) while walking to the place where they met for the first time.
He thanks Yuki for all the time they spent together and reassures her that she was not wrong for doing all of this and lastly he want to change the future by breaking this loop. Naoto promises to Yuki that he will find a cure for her disease and that he will wait for her in the future. Then suddenly Yuki starts to glow and realizes that she is going back to her own time

Then Yuki says that she loves him and that she will be waiting for him as well and disappears.
After Yuki is gone, Naoto sees that he still has Yuki's last pill when he stopped her from taking it. He thinks of that pill the road to their future

Then another epilogue . Naoto despite all the hardships, has made the discovery of a cure for a disease that basically almost noone has.
10 years later on christmas eve he is still looking for Yuki and is unable to find her. He thinks back where he met her for the first time and goes to that location
and he actually finds Yuki there and she still looks the same as back then.

They get reunited and Yuki still remembers Naoto and Yuki says something shocking.
They somehow managed to change history because Yuki is no longer Naoto's daughter in this future......
*at this point i feel extremely cheated*
After she woke up from the last timeslip, she still was bedridden in the hopsital with the same illness but now she has different parents.
Naoto's discovery of a cure made her healthy again and Yuki fully recovered on christmas eve and immediately goes out of the hospital looking for Naoto.

And it ends with Yuki and Naoto being together and on time to celebrate Christmas..


I liked the idea of Yuki's route but i could not look past the holes in the story and convenient plot devices. The story made imo not that much sense seeing that Yuki was basically both her own mother and daughter.
Why did Naoto at the end even assume that he would find Yuki by breaking the timeloop by not having a future with Yuki being his lover, if Yuki is his daughter? ....
The rather conviences of Naoto going back in time the even more conveniently change of Yuki's future so that she is no longer Naoto's daughter, eventhough at the end of the story their age difference is so high that she could have been his daughter.

Not to mention the problem in the first 2 stories, assuming that the 3rd one is correct how did Yuki born? Because she changed the past of Naoto being with either Mizuka or Anzu, thus them being Yuki's mother but in the 3rd story it's Yuki herself .
AARGH!

[Snuffle]

Originally Posted by Mahou

So~ another german-time nightly impression featuring Sekai to Sekai no Mannaka de.

The good:
- The romance: Aira and Kokoro's were extremly lovely and "awwww". Renri's rather lack of emotion (which actually has a reason) during Minori's lessend it somewhat
- Aira's route: The complete package without the stuff mentioned in the previous section was much to my liking. The moments leading to the confession and Renri's actual display of more emotions/expressions made her route maybe the strongest of the three

The average:
- Aira's past was within the supernatural in-verse too strange. And her epilogue (as in the scene post credit roll) was for me a big question mark
- Haruka's past was fine by itself, but her existance during it wasn't really what I expected *lol*

Fav. route order: Aira > Kokoro = Haruka >= Minori

So far I've finished Aira's route first and Haruka's route second and I'm currently on Minori's route.

Aira sure pulls my heartstrings... It was just so tremendously cute that it had me with a huge smile most of the time before the first H scene started. After that, the story felt a bit rushed and confusing. One thing I really like about this pairing is that from the very beginning, Aira and Renri already get along as if they were already a couple, which was commented on humorously. I agree with you that her ending is just one big question mark. Just how is that stuff even happening? Sure we can infer, but some detail would be nice...

For some reason, I went though Haruka's route really fast, is it shorter than the rest of the stories? I really like how Haruka teases Renri and the rest of the gang go along with it and insert their jabs. For me, her story wasn't very interesting, but the humor in it was very nice. The tail on the face really had me laughing.

So far Minori's route is quite funny, just got a little bit past the confession scene and the antics which come after that. I wasn't too sure if I would like her character since there is not much to go on from the common route, but her dere side sure is making me like her a lot. Still wouldn't pick her over Aira though.

[Mahou]

Another month, another buch of (latest) impressions:
Koishiki Manual: I liked what I saw from the trial version and the real deal kept the comedy during the common route, which is definitely a good thing to me. Once the VN moves to the individual routes, it may get more boring and one confession is rather forgettable. I only finished Aki's route, but overall liked it. She's a "sports/tennis idiot" who's maybe even more dense than most average MCs

Spoiler for Aki's character description + route:

Her profile mentions that her tennis or sports coach told her she'd lose her talent if she were to have sex and I kinda expected that this detail was mentioned more than just once during her route (which was pre-confession). Not for unnecessary drama, but maybe as another comedy part in her relationship or a stepstone to deepen her love for MC? Yet, after she realized her feelings the part was never mentioned again.

. Oh yeah, gimme a Rio route NAO!.

Koi suru Kimochi no Hanakotoba: Uhm, rather normal. One route may be the closest to a sorta-harem route based on the CGs. Female cast is nice and 3/4 of them have terrible grades *lol*. So yeah, I'd suggest it only if you want something veeeery ordinary.

Shin Koihime Musou: Not a new title, but nontheless. I shed tears during the early part of the Go faction route due to the tragic fate of an important character. And although Kazuto had more of a harem building function in it, he was more useful than during Gi faction's route (hello @yuri moments...). The latter was mostly worth it thanks to Sousou/Karin. Rather unfortunate that she didn't get quite a her personal happy end =/. Oh, and I absolutely disliked Keifa. Simply bloody annoying in all regards

Edit:
Innocent Girl: I've never seen so many shimo neta used before. No, it's like 10x more extrem than the usual pervy MC during the whole common route. Honestly, there wre quite a few times where I was somewhat disgusted with that kind of sex talk. BUT, then comes the individual routes with beautiful highlights* like Kagari or Hinako's lovely confession that made me glad to have continued the VN.

*highlights in regards to my playing style of reading up to each confession scene before deciding which route to finish. In contrast to my "old" way of picking one route until the end before moving to the next one.

[larethian]

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