General Eroge Impressions & Discussion

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by Mahou

From what I've seen so far, his dokan degree might be a case-by-case scenario.
...
As for rock-levels of sensity: I can at least suggest to be on guard in Miu's route pre-confession .
Main prota trait #2: Knowing how to say something that moves the girl's heart greatly without realizing the romantic level of it

Aye, I just got past the "shopping for presents" part (on Miu's route), and it indeed feels like I'm in for a ride of the usual lack of awareness. And Miu isn't really someone who is going to flat-out spell her feelings out either ... so I guess it's time to buckle down and ride it through, waiting for enlightenment to hit Yuuto ... or the gang eventually getting frustrated with him and pushing him off a cliff in the right direction. Ah well ... I guess it's simply easier to create tension with clueless characters, rather than smart ones.

At least, I dare to hope that Erina's route will be free from this. Given her personality, I expect her to make her intentions very clear and upfront, in a manner that's impossible to miss (more so than usual ). Though I could always be wrong ... but yeah, once she actually falls for the guy, I expect her actions to not leave much room for Yuuto's density to exploit

Originally Posted by hyl

It's not a surprise for me that most people who have read Dracu-Riot seem to favor Miu and Elina.

Aye, I expect this character preference to be pretty universal. It feels like extra effort has went in to these two characters to make them more quirky and somewhat unique. While my usual character preferences should place me closer to someone like Rio (the polite/kind type), she simply feels bland compared to those two :/

Azusa fares a bit better (well ...at the very least, she is louder ), but still feels somewhat typical compared to Miu and Erina. Those two indeed feel like the main attractions of the story. (Though the local bishie vampire weirdo who may or may not be a reverse trap is still the biggest enigma )

[hyl]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

(Though the local bishie vampire weirdo who may or may not be a reverse trap is still the biggest enigma )

Spoiler for just be safe:

Nikola is a reverse trap (meaning she is a girl). Stumbled on that when i was looking on seiya saiga for a guide.

[blitz1/2]

Originally Posted by hyl

Spoiler for just be safe:

Nikola is a reverse trap (meaning she is a girl). Stumbled on that when i was looking on seiya saiga for a guide.

The konoe subaru of Dracu-riot.

[johnishida]

To all you guys who are currently playing Dracu-Riot! Stay away from Miu, she's mine :P

With that said, I have already finished Miu's and Azusa's routes, currently on Rio's. Out of the two I have played Miu's is my favorite though the development near the end was a bit exaggerated the overall plot was pretty decent IMO and it had a rather satisfying ending.

Azusa's route on the other hand was a bit of a let down; it touched many different themes and characters but lacked the proper development for all of them which lead to a rather unsatisfying ending.

[Mahou]

Miu's overall plot had a more global danger feeling than Erina's, which was really more centered on Yuuto and her. And from a romance point of view it felt like Yuuto showed his more pathetic side in Miu's route with one of the only sweet moments being the ending (while it was quite cliché which I generally don't really mind). She's the "hard-working" part of the relationship after all.

I would sub Rio's route up to the first ecchi scene as the "dere dere" route if not for my usually bad sense of description/wording . It has had a fair share of awkward moments (*coughdateonecough*), but I wouldn't mind if her route were to stay the most "normal" one drama-wise. Azusa's route up to first ecchi scene has felt like it had a somewhat slow start from a romance point of view. The match maker idea was actually quite funny in its execution.
I think I'll keep changing between those two.

I have also started playing Strawberry Feels. I *really* hope it will be "sugary" sweet later on, but so far it's uhm average. The MC's attempt of pervy jokes were not that funny imho. But, I wouldn't mind to attend that type of school .

[Skyfall]

Just completed Miu's route, and I can definitely agree to the above sentiment that the final developments of it were "exaggerated". It felt like they tried too hard to introduce drama on a scale that was somewhat out of touch with the general mood of Dracu Riot (Which is quite lighthearted).

Spoiler for End of Miu's route:

While the discrimination against vampires had been mentioned in a passing manner now and then, it honestly felt out of place when brought to the front stage. A background flavor suddenly became the main concern, and it felt lacking proper buildup or foreshadowing, considering how far they pushed it.

Let's just say I didn't appreciate them suddenly introducing an evil government clique with the immediate agenda of blowing up the bridge, causing random bombings through the city, and then nuking it all for good measure and sinking the city to the bottom of the ocean (There is no way a few flimsy cruise missiles would have accomplished that anyway) just to be safe, thousands of innocent people be damned.

I can appreciate evil government conspiracies as well as anyone, but this honestly felt like a rather cheap attempt to generate a grand finale. Exaggerated is exactly the word to describe just about everything that happened in the finale. Ah well.

The "serious business" mood was somewhat jarring as well, considering the title had been comedy first, perversion second, romance third and drama a distant bystander up to now. Even when things took a turn for the serious previously, they still blew over quickly and retained a light tone.

Like when Yuuto got kidnapped and injected with L ... withdrawal symptoms were pretty bad indeed. How to ease his heightened desire to suck blood? Why, having copious amounts of sex with Miu is obviously the solution, brought up and executed as a serious medical treatment with the doctor's approval!

The final arc lacked a similar air of silliness though, and for a story that had largely defined itself with silliness irregardless of situation, it didn't feel quite at home.

Ah well. Despite my qualms with how the ending was handled, it was still a fun ride overall. While I don't think it ever made me laugh out loud, DR did succeed in keeping a near-constant grin on my face. The characters and their antics were quite entertaining and I never felt bored, so that's definitely a plus.

Miu was a quite refreshing heroine as well, and definitely not a bad choice for the main one - I had expected some sort of a tsundere (appearances can be deceiving, heh), but she turned out surprisingly upfront and honest. The moments when she was trying to act all "mature" and "calm" while blushing from ear to ear in reality (and spilling tea all over the place ) were quite endearing.

A shame Yuuto had to be made from the typical male lead mold though; It was definitely Miu that carried that relationship and made it worthwhile. There were certainly some moments of frustration to be had pre-confession (or should that be pre-first H scene) , courtesy of Mr. Dense. Though I guess this almost comes with the territory, so nothing to be surprised about. (And this is why August is the best eroge company around - Fortune Arterial is still probably the best example of a good male lead that has his wits about himself, and an example that you don't need to have a clueless male in order to create compelling drama.)

Though in the end that didn't detract from the experience too much, and the overall feeling is certainly a positive one. Erina is up next, I have a feeling this will be quite the riot (pun intended).

[Mahou]

Erina's route is my personal favorite. I can even say that I enjoyed her drama because the solution to end it was to my liking.

@Miu: The CG where Yuuto carried her princess-style at the end was, I think, the only moment where he wasn't portrayed as a complete hetare (a word that became somewhat a frequent basis on her route).

Spoiler for Miu drama:

Personally I found the victory Ai no Chikara versus missle funny. I actually thought her drama would be more based around their police-style work or Yuuto's vampire eater characteristic seeing that it was a big point between the trust of Miu and he. To share that secret and such, I mean.
A good part of the drama was Aogi's role with his past relation to this kind of stuff. And the barkeeper lady is sure scary with her hacking and eavesdropping-devices.

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by Mahou

Spoiler for Miu drama:

I actually thought her drama would be more based around their police-style work or Yuuto's vampire eater characteristic seeing that it was a big point between the trust of Miu and he. To share that secret and such, I mean.

Spoiler for Miu:

Yup, I certainly expected that to be their final point of drama as well. Considering how uneasy of a topic the "vampire eater" status had been presented as on several occasions, I fully expected it to become a main topic of concern.

I have no qualms with that not being the case, but considering what we got instead with the whole evil government conspiracy, it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. At least this point would have been properly supported by the previous story as a valid concern, unlike a sudden plan to sink the city. Ah well.

[Soviet]

Dracu Riot should have focused more on the rabu rabu, I have no interest in serious drama when the setting is just so retarded. The whole game should have been like Nikola's little bonus route.

[hyl]

I already suspected from the web trial that Dracu-Riot would not have impressed me that much, but it was still fun overall.

Time to find a new eroge to play that is a somewhat similar to Hatsuyuki Sakura, when it comes to drama and likable characters.

[Balzac]

So, two hours ago, started playing Dracu-Riot and...

Well, I liked the music and the characters - especially with the ol' "funny tension"- type comedy Yuzu-soft has. So far, into Azusa's route, and assuming the trunk was the same, it didn't have the more intense Yuzu-soft comedy which was exemplified in my opinion in Tenshin. Ah well, here's hoping there's more to come from the heroine routes. (as an aside, have yet to use my ctrl-dozer once)

[Mahou]

Finished Kotori's route in Strawberry Feels yesterday and honestly I'm in a mix of being angry and "WTF"-dumbfounded on how the VN progressed.

Spoiler for Kotori route:

Let's start. Character's having "skills" aka special powers? No problems with it. BUT, pushing the focus on on some kind of phantom moster hunting? Ending it with Kotori's death and disjointed ending for the MC? I was really like "WTF just happened".

As for the last point in the spoiler: I can vaguely foresee why it ended as it did for the MC as Kanna's route is unlockable after you complete the three other routes. And as such I have the bad premonition on how the other two girls ending will be They better make the 2nd endings of the girls worth it >_<. "Love is like a fruit, sweet like a strawberry, and sour." The normal type of "sour" would have been more agreeable with me, though .
*takes a deep breath* Overall the VN started out veeery normal. The MC with pervy mind, but serious about romancing, the concept of "first kiss", for example. Not surprising, his pervy jokes eventually became boring and it was Aoi-chan who provided with her large fawning over the MC most of the humor with her ero-mind. Personally, I found the OST quite nice and the opening song sounds very appealing for me. On I go to the other routes ... x_x.

[erneiz_hyde]

I recently stumbled upon Material Brave. Nice to see another Giga game with gameplay!

Though I'm curious, is there a point in controlling the heroines directly as attackers to level them up faster? I'm only used to controlling Ayumu and the level difference is too staggering to try to equalize all the character's levels. Since there must be a time limit, I tend to try and maximize Ayumu's level instead.

Also, the Engage board. I'm confused whether to equally distribute the points in different attributes or to just increase one or two of that character's specialty (like weapon damage for Kanae and Hikaru and ability damage for Tsubomi). I ended up hoarding all the crystals I got since the beginning of the game.

Also confused whether I'll have time to do all of the girl's events (I'm still not sure how the routes work or if there are any). I'm expecting that even if I advance into a girl's route, I'll get to see the earlier scenes of all the other heroines, judging from the way the Engage board leveling works.

[Cosmic Eagle]

I've heard Mat Brave is the successor to Duel Saviours? Is it the same verse or a sequel?

[Soviet]

Originally Posted by erneiz_hyde

Also confused whether I'll have time to do all of the girl's events (I'm still not sure how the routes work or if there are any). I'm expecting that even if I advance into a girl's route, I'll get to see the earlier scenes of all the other heroines, judging from the way the Engage board leveling works.

There are no routes, protag is a total man-whore. I kind of gave up on MB because the gameplay didn't really evolve beyond what you see in the first couple of hours and the story was just...bad. Playing it just got really tiring after a while. Same reasons I stopped playing Eiyuu Senki.

Here's hoping that the gameplay eroge in April turn out to be more interesting. The trial of Soukoku no Arterial was great and Demonion will at least have the ero on its side (90+ Scenes with art by M&M) so I'm slightly more optimistic.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Soviet

There are no routes, protag is a total man-whore. I kind of gave up on MB because the gameplay didn't really evolve beyond what you see in the first couple of hours and the story was just...bad. Playing it just got really tiring after a while. Same reasons I stopped playing Eiyuu Senki.

Here's hoping that the gameplay eroge in April turn out to be more interesting. The trial of Soukoku no Arterial was great and Demonion will at least have the ero on its side (90+ Scenes with art by M&M) so I'm slightly more optimistic.

What's Soukoku's story? MB story bad? From the same group that did the Baldr series?

[Soviet]

Originally Posted by Cosmic Eagle

What's Soukoku's story?

Mega corporation is somehow responsible for shifting the entire city into a different dimensional plane where an Angels vs. Devils conflict seems to be happening, protag awakens to his blood-controlling powers...don't know about the story but the card-battle system has potential to be awesome.

MB story bad? From the same group that did the Baldr series?

That doesn't really mean anything, Baldr Force/Sky were written by Murasaki while MB is by the same dude who did Koi Kishi (I think he also did Eiyuu Senki, ha). Not sure how he keeps getting work when everything he churns out is shit.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Soviet

Mega corporation is somehow responsible for shifting the entire city into a different dimensional plane where an Angels vs. Devils conflict seems to be happening, protag awakens to his blood-controlling powers...don't know about the story but the card-battle system has potential to be awesome.

That doesn't really mean anything, Baldr Force/Sky were written by Murasaki while MB is by the same dude who did Koi Kishi (I think he also did Eiyuu Senki, ha). Not sure how he keeps getting work when everything he churns out is shit.

Oh...different writers...I see....

Did you try the Soukoku trial?

[johnishida]

Originally Posted by Cosmic Eagle

What's Soukoku's story? MB story bad? From the same group that did the Baldr series?

Played through the first five chapters of MB before leaving it on hold till I finish Dracu-Riot! (Priorities )

I can't say the MB plot is awesome but, it's pretty decent and quite standard for this kind game. Not entirely accurate summary: normal high school boy awakens to his, until then, hidden powers and is sent to a special school in order to develop them. Meanwhile, evil organization wants to take over everything and rule over the non-superpower wielding people.

Quite standard, right? There seem to some other stuff mixed in but, I don't really expect too much but, who knows; I was expecting something completely different when I played BaldrSky and what I got instead was pure epicness.

Anyway, Material Brave's focus are it's characters (mostly the heroines) and the gameplay so if you like them you should not have any problem enjoying the game.

Heroines are all really cute, fun, likable and interesting. They all have pretty unique traits to themselves and their interactions will result in many moments filled with comedy. Kinda sad Ena doesn't have a "route"

Gameplay wise, it's entertaining but very, very repetitive. Maybe it's because I still haven't got too many skills but, after a while I just need to repeat the same old combo to kill everything in my path which is why I pretty much now spend the free time developing the Engage Points for the heroines and completing quest instead of exploring dungeons.

Hope that helps you decide whether to play it or not.

[hyl]

After failing to find an eroge or VN that is somewhat similar to Hatsuyuki Sakura, I have decided to go for an earlier title from Saga Planets: Natsuyume Nagisa. I held it off for this long, because I wasn't impressed by Sagaplanet's other game Kisaragi Gold Star (besides it's catchy opening Rolling Star). But after reading that HatsuSaku has similarities with Natsuyume Nagisa, i will give it a try.