General Eroge Impressions & Discussion

[ArchmageXin]

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

Well, lucky for you all I've actually played Brave Soul. And cleared it. Bout five times or so. This was way back in 2007. IIRC I think I got all the endings for all the girls, even the secret girl.

Graphics wise, yes, it doesn't appear much, but I honestly found the gameplay to be quite decent. Sure, it was simple, but to me, a guy who hadn't grown up with SNES games, and had a stunted gaming life, I found it to be quite fun. Then again I had missed out on a tremendous amount of gaming, which is why I attempted to catch up in 2007.

Gameplay wise, each girl you bring along does different things. First girl's a healer, you get a rogue, an archer, a gunner... damn, I'll have to go and replay the game; it's been about 6 years, y'know.

Also, I played the game windowed. I'm not sure where your difficulty in getting it windowed is - have you looked in the options? (I'm reminded of the legions of people complaining that it was impossible to remap buttons in the PC version of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, which was something I did.)

The H-scenes are actually pretty well done, though that's because they're static art. The artwork is quite nice, however, and I have to give it props.

Also it's unfair to compare this game to Kamidori or Fate/Stay Night when it preceeds them by quite a few years. It's basically your typical portable JRPG brought to the PC with H-scenes, though it's quite fun. I dunno, I liked it.

Not as much as Reccetear, but what Reccetear lacked in H-Scenes it made up for in buying and selling like a boss. I personally found Kamidori to be somewhat frustrating, however. Maybe I'll replay it someday.

When I tried load windowed mode it told me the game was not designed for windows. And lo and behold, as soon as I clicked on load game (To see if the game come with save games) the game crashed.


Also, the reason I said compare to Kamdori is because Kamdori's mechanics are not extraordinary and fairly basic (collect items, build weapons, fight on a regular 2D map), that style has been around since the 90s. It is definitely feasible.

And Fate/Knight is amazing because they have an excellent writer...no one read Fate/Night for the H scene anyway. When I reach the scene I just fast forward to get back to the plot.

So when you have no mechanics and so-so writing, you have no redeeming value.

[Wild Goose]

Originally Posted by ArchmageXin

When I tried load windowed mode it told me the game was not designed for windows. And lo and behold, as soon as I clicked on load game (To see if the game come with save games) the game crashed.

Also, the reason I said compare to Kamdori is because Kamdori's mechanics are not extraordinary and fairly basic (collect items, build weapons, fight on a regular 2D map), that style has been around since the 90s. It is definitely feasible.

And Fate/Knight is amazing because they have an excellent writer...no one read Fate/Night for the H scene anyway. When I reach the scene I just fast forward to get back to the plot.

So when you have no mechanics and so-so writing, you have no redeeming value.

You do realise this game originally came out about fifteen years ago, right? Of course it's incredibly dated when compared to Kamidori and Fate Stay/Night.

Storyline wise, sex aside, Brave Soul is your run of the mill SNES JRPG. It's nothing special, I agree, but I don't think it's as bad as you're making out - I for one felt quite entertained six years ago. But to each their own.

Anyway, what's your machine and specs? I got it to run windowed with no problems on my laptop, which was running Windows XP SP2 - if you're running Windows 7, I suspect there may be an conflict somewhere in the OS.

*Edit: IIRC, you need to set your display colors to 16-bit instead of 32-bit, otherwise windowed mode will crash.

[Flying Dagger]

Brave souls... man, that brings feelings of nostalgia.
I remember playing it many many months ago, probably back when I had to download the game via 56k

I remembered liking it much, as an avid rpg gamer, who doesn't like a game with some ecchi in it?

Kamidori has a rather weak story (I think Eushully fans will get much more out of it as they understand the backstory a lot better), but I find the game fun to play because of its gameplay. While such simple and basic combat systems have been around for ages, its still a difficult task to make an interesting game out of the system. Game balance (even in late game) isn't that bad in Kamidori as well as long as you avoid abusing one overpowering self buff.

Soukoku no Arterial, with its card game battles, is technically even more simple than kamidori, but I still enjoyed it a lot (even more than kamidori). Sometimes, having some depth from simple rule sets isn't that bad a thing.

[ArchmageXin]

Kamidori has a rather weak story (I think Eushully fans will get much more out of it as they understand the backstory a lot better), but I find the game fun to play because of its gameplay. While such simple and basic combat systems have been around for ages, its still a difficult task to make an interesting game out of the system. Game balance (even in late game) isn't that bad in Kamidori as well as long as you avoid abusing one overpowering self buff.

I liked Kamidori for the "build your own house/dress your ladies" then go to war type of thing. It gave you something to do than just click screen of text--->H scene---> some random faux battle--->H--->screen type of a game.

You do realise this game originally came out about fifteen years ago, right? Of course it's incredibly dated when compared to Kamidori and Fate Stay/Night.

I didn't compare that graphics, it is game play or the writing, both don't need to be 2012 to be good. Chrono trigger is probably even older, but it has superb gameplay and writing.

[Flying Dagger]

Come to think of it, I am a victim of this "things past year 2000 are relatively new" effect. To think 2000 happened 13 years ago... I really need to raise the bar to 2010.

damn I am getting old.

[Wild Goose]

Originally Posted by ArchmageXin

I didn't compare that graphics, it is game play or the writing, both don't need to be 2012 to be good. Chrono trigger is probably even older, but it has superb gameplay and writing.

Yes, and the people who made Brave Soul aren't the Chrono Trigger team. (Personally, I've always felt that while Chrono Trigger was good, it isn't the end all be all it's held up to be, but that's something for another day.)

For an eroge made around the turn of the millenium, waaay before Kamidori et all, Brave Soul is a good effort. It's hardly groundbreaking, but it's a decent game.

Originally Posted by Flying Dagger

Come to think of it, I am a victim of this "things past year 2000 are relatively new" effect. To think 2000 happened 13 years ago... I really need to raise the bar to 2010.

damn I am getting old.

Tell me about it. I can still remember my first computer: a Performa 6200. 75 megahertz CPU, 40 megabytes of RAM, 700 megabyte hard drive.

[Newprimus]

Originally Posted by Wild Goose

Yes, and the people who made Brave Soul aren't the Chrono Trigger team. (Personally, I've always felt that while Chrono Trigger was good, it isn't the end all be all it's held up to be, but that's something for another day.)

For an eroge made around the turn of the millenium, waaay before Kamidori et all, Brave Soul is a good effort. It's hardly groundbreaking, but it's a decent game.



Tell me about it. I can still remember my first computer: a Performa 6200. 75 megahertz CPU, 40 megabytes of RAM, 700 megabyte hard drive.

Ha! First PC that I can remember owning had an 80 megabyte hard drive.

And I still remember with incredible fondness playing games like monkey island 1 nd 2.

[Wild Goose]

Originally Posted by Shinova

Ha! First PC that I can remember owning had an 80 megabyte hard drive.

And I still remember with incredible fondness playing games like monkey island 1 nd 2.

Didn't start gaming on my own until I got my Performa, but the first computer I ever saw was my dad's Macintosh Classic. He had it for almost 15 years, kept running with no problems.

[ArchmageXin]

Anyway, tried castle Fantasia...it was not bad, but the fact each save only save you at the beginning of the chapter make it a frustrating experience-especially since unlike later eroges, castle F don't have an option that will let you "skip text you read before"


Going to try Tear no Taraia next. hopefully this one is more recent vintage.

[Mazyrian]

Originally Posted by ArchmageXin

Going to try Tear no Taraia next. hopefully this one is more recent vintage.

It was already mentioned, but also from Leaf there's Utawarerumono. Is older, but I found it much better than Tears to Tiara in all aspects (characters, story, combat, even in the random and awkward H scenes). The gameplay part is pretty simple and lacks options, but is fun, and in the lower hard levels a decent challenge (the higher hard levels require a lot of grinding, which may be annoying). The plot is also pretty neat.

[Cirno]

I'm going to try Shoujo Shin'iki tonight... I have a bad feeling after watching the OP... Blood, bloody knife, yandere eyes, and fox mask... Higurashi?

[ArchmageXin]

Originally Posted by Mazyrian

It was already mentioned, but also from Leaf there's Utawarerumono. Is older, but I found it much better than Tears to Tiara in all aspects (characters, story, combat, even in the random and awkward H scenes). The gameplay part is pretty simple and lacks options, but is fun, and in the lower hard levels a decent challenge (the higher hard levels require a lot of grinding, which may be annoying). The plot is also pretty neat.

I played Utawareumono once before, it was pretty good. I wish they didn't go OH BTW HERE ARE MECHS AND LAZERS XD on me. I am not flaming it, but not my cop of tea for second time.

Also, Rance series...the cover all look like a cast from Ramma 1/2 (or one of those 80s anime) Is it worth it? I don't know why, I heard it is a good strat game, but I could never get pass the cover. The main guy on the cover look like the classic "I am a stupid muscle guy who punch entire armies and take maidens"

[Mazyrian]

The "take maidens" part at least is true

[Newprimus]

Playing Koiseyo Imouto Bancho. A lot better than it's simplistic chara-ge appearances imply. I mean it's still a moe chara-ge, but it's actually fun. And Eina is the most lovable tsundere imouto ever.

[Mahou]

I'm really looking forward to LovelyxCation 2, even though leaving the MC's name out (due to the insert-your-name style) during voiced dialogues with the main heroines before the relationship has deepened or with other characters felt at first very awkward. I haven't checked the current jp. impressions, but I hope there's no fiasco-drama like they did in part one with Yuni-chan . Koibitogokko done wrongly, imho.

Otherwise, I've been passing time with Pastel Chime continue. Character-wise, Yuuki is only so-so, but the girls are quite likeable. First time I've seen a cat marriage . The battle system is a-okay, nothing really new to see. Making Yuuki priest-class turns him later on insanely overpowered except of maybe two types of enemies on the deepest dungon floor who can withstand the strongest priest spell "Mercy". The best of all, you can save a bit money as you don't need weapons for him and with a bit of luck can use the equipment from chests to dress him for more defense; the priest class hasn't much HP.
The bad? You are pretty much forced to take Natsumi if you choose a main heroine other than Lucy because scout skills are mandatory for dungeon exploration and progression.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Cirno

I'm going to try Shoujo Shin'iki tonight... I have a bad feeling after watching the OP... Blood, bloody knife, yandere eyes, and fox mask... Higurashi?

That actually looks...not bad...

[Dhomochevsky]

Originally Posted by ArchmageXin

I played Utawareumono once before, it was pretty good. I wish they didn't go OH BTW HERE ARE MECHS AND LAZERS XD on me. I am not flaming it, but not my cop of tea for second time.

Also, Rance series...the cover all look like a cast from Ramma 1/2 (or one of those 80s anime) Is it worth it? I don't know why, I heard it is a good strat game, but I could never get pass the cover. The main guy on the cover look like the classic "I am a stupid muscle guy who punch entire armies and take maidens"

All the numbered Rance series titles I've played were typical dungeon crawler RPGs. Nothing to write home about. Though the humor is nice, if you like it.

Sengoku Rance however is an excellent strategy game with incredible replay value. It's by far the best eroge I've played to this day and you should not miss it.

[ArchmageXin]

Originally Posted by Cosmic Eagle

That actually looks...not bad...

What it is about? Horror story?

[DevotionFX]

Originally Posted by ArchmageXin

What it is about? Horror story?

YEAH... it's horror. Same developer of 11eyes―Lass. What's thing do you hope for?

BTW ―Now, I'm playing this. Still the long way to go, since my japanese skill isn't good that much, dictionary for my life~....

[blitz1/2]

Spoiler for spoiler for Lass's new game:

LASS! FUUU! Where were my rabu rabu imouto scenes.....!!!!!!

And Asaproject's new game, some of the BGM DID NOT fit the scenes at all, where's the quality control?