General Eroge Impressions & Discussion

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Cloudnine

Lol, yes that's the cover for the standard DVD edition that was just released recently. I've seen the cover at a nearby shop and it looks really beautiful in person. (<3 the art... a poster version would be nice~ ^^)

The original limited edition had a less revealing cover.

I might have been playing that once since its an RPG and has some damn fine artwork. That is if the DVD weren't so chock full of dummy data so as to push it onto a DVD9 which I don't even think I can burn let alone read. Although this is a new computer now that I think of it. In Lieu I am playing Diablo. Or Rather Tayu Uta by Eushully.

Edit: Hey cool this DVD-Drive does support everything up to but not including Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. I love it when my computer crashes because I always make a killing on the next one and its always free.

[Sushi-Y]

Originally Posted by kj1980

btw, if you haven't noticed, I don't play that much ero-games as I used to nowadays... I guess I'm just getting too old. The point has come where I have over a hundred ero-games that I haven't played yet stacked right next to my computer, which (if I bought it at the actual retail price, which I never do) amounts to over 880,000 yen. Reality has finally hit upon me that for the same price, I could've gone to Guam, Saipan, Hawaii, and Tahiti, AND still have money left over. ...And realizing that, I decided to sell these games to a used game store for 1/4~1/2 the price (I was actually surprised some would actually take it for 5,000 yen for the premium, but) and recuperated 65% of the money that I wasted. Lesson learned, I'm gonna use that to go to Guam.

So, I have taken a break on buying ero-games unless I know it is really great (i.e.: amount of doujin groups doing doujinshis of that ero-game at Comike)

Sure I may see bunch of ef posters in and around Akihabara...but I'm still not tempted to buy it...despite it being drawn by Nanao Naru. Let katatsuki release Sacchin's scenario on their remake of Tsukihime, and I'll definitely buy.

So...what's the next big thing after "Fate" and "Higurashi"? I haven't seen it yet.

880-... (゜Д ゜；)

Well, I'm glad you made your decision. It's true that these kind of games are meant to stimulate your attention (and spending urge), even though you might not actually have the time/motivation to play through them. But a tsumige- library of that size is just...

For me personally, running across a game that I consider to be "interesting/worth buying" is a rare thing that probably only happens once every few months. And not living in Japan means no impulse buys either. Besides, if I had to buy something out of impulse, then it's probably not worth it.

The next big thing? Maybe that next TYPE-MOON game that Nasu and Takeuchi-san mentioned in the latest interview with Dengeki G's? Ryukushi07-san's next project that he's starting on after the Higurashi disk planned for C71? Who knows. Even the most successful games from other top companies don't have the level of widespread popularity and support that Fate/stay night and Higurashi got (except maybe Key's games, partly thanks to Kyoani) (even then, the population is far more limited compared to Fate and Higurashi's fanbase).

For me, the next big thing would be Key's "Little Busters" (I buy Dengeki G's every month just for the SS and 4-koma comcis). Will it send shockwaves through the community? Probably no more than CLANNAD did, but that's fine with me. I don't need my games to be social phenomenons before I buy them.

[Cloudnine]

Originally Posted by Shinova

Fate's coming to PS2 with some new content, isn't it?

*nods*

The deal breaker for me is full voicing using the majority of the anime cast. There are some extra events/CGs (I bet there will be a Sakura date event in HF :3), other than that, it should be the same game.

Originally Posted by Sushi-Y

Katahane (カタハネ) (11/22/06)

I love Tarte games ever since Hinatabokko (ひなたぼっこ). Their character designs always slightly differ from the norm, which is refreshing and equally interesting at the same time.

I have to admit, the art in Katahane looks magnificent. I get a very "cinematic" feel from the demo, especially with the widescreen CGs and overemphasis in lighting and effects.

umuu... release date is coming soon~ and it's near the new console release date as well... (difficult choice indeed)

[JarOfMayo]

Originally Posted by Sushi-Y

For me, the next big thing would be Key's "Little Busters" (I buy Dengeki G's every month just for the SS and 4-koma comcis). Will it send shockwaves through the community? Probably no more than CLANNAD did, but that's fine with me. I don't need my games to be social phenomenons before I buy them.

I'm working through my "pile" so I can be mentally prepared for Little Busters. lol...

Except I add to the pile every once in awhile Doesn't help that I replay CLANNAD on occasion either...

[Potatochobit]

i want to buy the fate remake but do u think they will re-release it on PC?

[Lord Faust]

Hello I'm new here. I'm also new to the visual novel genre. Actually one of the reasons I signed up here is because it after weeks of lurking and 'stealing' tips from here, I guess it's only appropriate to register to say thank you and hopefully I can get more assistance from time to time. Thank you.

I'm also glad that there are so many visual novel fans here. The following visual novels are the ones that I have played.

Kana~ Little Sister ( My introduction to the B-Game genre )
Crescendo ( Simplying amazing, excellent translation and story-telling )
Private Nurse ( Poignant, completed but still far from getting 100 %)
Narcissus & Narcissus side 2nd demo ( Not eroge still a good read )
Secret Wives Club ( Deleted the game half way through cos more sex less story)

Out of these Crescendo would be my favourite. Ayame's and Kyoko's paths are favourite for reasons best not mention here, especially Ayame's

Sorry if off topic but one B- game I would really like to try is Tenshi no Inai 12-gatsu if it ever got translated. I read that the game it self has a very depressing atmosphere and has some sad endings. I asked around some where before whether using a program that could translate the Japanese text to English would be appropriate for some one who has no knowledge in the Japanese language. But the answers were discouraging and I gave up on the idea. So if it is not too much to ask, could some one please direct me to a site where could explain the story of the game in some detail in English please? Sounds really interesting, the story that is. Thanks again in advance.

[luckyovermind]

Originally Posted by Lord Faust

Hello I'm new here. I'm also new to the visual novel genre. ...

Glad to meet someone who is also new ^^ As a person who is still struggling with CLANNAD and GINIRO, all the talks about newest games like prism ark and ef here made me feel out of the place sometimes... , well, enough rambling…

Below is my personal interpretation…(I know it’s bad)

December when there is no angel is LEAF’s experimental work. The protagonist is a high school student, who has confusion and emptiness typical of young age, but a bit extreme maybe. Then he meets a few girls, who is *surprisingly* same as him, or even worse mentally. And essentially, they use H to fulfil this emptiness,

What is life?
What is sex?
Beside sex, is there anything else between us?

And the end you may see a light, however dim. The scenario writer didn’t solve any practical problems for these youngsters. He just presented it, in the name of sympathy.


Perhaps from the above paragraph you can deduce: there is a lot of H in this game. The game’s value is highly controversial. Some even say it’s rubbish.

And you are right, perhaps the best part of this game is the grey atmosphere. On the surface it is the beautiful CG by LEAF’s artists, but you can sense the forever depression underneath. (I know it’s a VERY BAD example, but I will say it’s along the lines of Narcissu)


-------------------------------------------------
Sorry I didn’t know any english reviews or sites of this game, maybe someone else could help?

The probability of a translation being done is very small. As I said it was highly controversial and had a lot of erotic reference. The theme was a bit negative also. But on the plus side, its length is medium, maybe some good hearted translator will pick it up? ^^

-------------------------------------------------
On a side note, If you like tear-jerking stories (rather than overall depressing ones like 12-gatsu). I highly recommend giniro. It’s written by narcissu’s author a few years back (at least for the first chapter). Newlife anime’s patch has dropped out of the edge of internet, but agilis did the novelisation of 1st chapter (which is a complete medium length story by itself). Go here: http://neechin.net , click on the FILES to find out more XD

And you haven’t tried any of plantarian, ever17, phantom of inferno and hourglass of summer yet? They are available in English you know.

------------------------------------
Off-topic: Whenever can I see the light of DO's "the family project" translation *cries*

[MeganeShounen]

I was wondering why anyone hasn't posted anything about this one yet. Maybe because it's not that great a game compared to the ones posted before... but as a fan of the series, might as well break the ice about it.

Spoiler for the pic, courtesy of 4chan, oddly enough:

ToHeart2 ~Another Days~
More girls for good ol' Takaaki to push down... err, befriend.

Seems like they're really going for the sequel-sequel approach. Also seems to include a whole new slew of winnable girls. Maryan-sempai and a new girl named Harumi (bottom right) as well.

Now, I'd wish they would do the same for D.C. II.

[Riker]

Actually, it was mentioned in the New Announced Anime thread and the To Heart 2 the anime thread.

Here is a more complete version of that magazine article.




Seems like you can still choose Tamaki and Konomi. New scenarios?

[MeganeShounen]

Ah, damn. I didn't notice that. Thanks for the heads up, Riker~

So wait, the HMX girls are really winnable this time around?

[Potatochobit]

idk, ilfa was pretty winnable in the previous game

but i didnt like them mushing it in with the twins story line. hopefully the ending will stay seperate from other characters this time.

[Sushi-Y]

Originally Posted by Cloudnine

The deal breaker for me is full voicing using the majority of the anime cast. There are some extra events/CGs (I bet there will be a Sakura date event in HF :3), other than that, it should be the same game.

I bet there won't be one. Especially considering that there are many jokes in the community about how Sakura was the only one who didn't get a date with Shirou in the game (which is why she turned black ^^; ). It has become a kind of "iron tradition" (just like a Sacchin/Ilya/Fuji-nee scenario).

Besides, she got her date in hollow ataraxia (kinda ).

Originally Posted by Cloudnine

I have to admit, the art in Katahane looks magnificent. I get a very "cinematic" feel from the demo, especially with the widescreen CGs and overemphasis in lighting and effects.

The art is very pretty indeed. Although regular talk scenes appears to be limited to one character on the screen at a time (reminds me of Scarlette), which feels a little lonely sometimes.

I liked Kurohane, I just hope Shirohane won't disappoint either.

Originally Posted by JarOfMayo

I'm working through my "pile" so I can be mentally prepared for Little Busters. lol...

Judging from the official site's current state, I'm guessing it'll be another year or so before a possible release, so there's no need to worry about it now.

Originally Posted by Potatochobit

i want to buy the fate remake but do u think they will re-release it on PC?

That'd make it a reverse-port, which is very unlikely.

Originally Posted by luckyovermind

On a side note, If you like tear-jerking stories (rather than overall depressing ones like 12-gatsu). I highly recommend giniro. It’s written by narcissu’s author a few years back (at least for the first chapter).

Giniro is a good game, the nameless girl's (Ayame) story certainly was quite a tear-jerker (so was Sagiri's story...). All of Nekoneko's games were quite good, really. When it comes to sad/melancholic scenarios, Kataoka-san's right up there with Maeda-san. (Those of you who played Narcissu will have an idea)

Originally Posted by MeganeShounen

I was wondering why anyone hasn't posted anything about this one yet. Maybe because it's not that great a game compared to the ones posted before... but as a fan of the series, might as well break the ice about it.

Spoiler for the pic, courtesy of 4chan, oddly enough:

ToHeart2 ~Another Days~
More girls for good ol' Takaaki to push down... err, befriend.

I was more surprised at Leaf's other announcement of that big 3D RPG game they're making with 5 big-shot illustrators (Karen x Mitsumi Misato x Kawata Hisashi x Amazuyu Tatsuki x Nakamura Takeshi).

君が呼ぶ、メギドの丘で, it's called.

[Lord Faust]

luckyovermind thanks for your insight on 'December when there is no angel'. It's good enough for me. Personally I don't really care for the H- scenes, but more interested in the underlying stories/tones the games convey. Crescendo is a fine example where the game could also be enjoyable without the H -scenes. Well, all you did is further deepen my curiosity about the game...^_^

Thanks for the heads up on geniro too. That I shall check out soon later. Anyways wallet a bit tight and lacking in hard drive space so will not be getting any new B - Games any time soon. Thanks again luckyovermind...^_^

[luckyovermind]

Originally Posted by Sushi-Y

Giniro is a good game, the nameless girl's (Ayame) story certainly was quite a tear-jerker (so was Sagiri's story...). All of Nekoneko's games were quite good, really. When it comes to sad/melancholic scenarios, Kataoka-san's right up there with Maeda-san. (Those of you who played Narcissu will have an idea)

Maeda-san has the master technique when it comes to make you cry and laugh, whenever he want....
Kataoka-san's writing is, beautiful, just beautiful. (I know I'm reading translations but I can still feel it )

I think leaf is going to use fake 3D anyway, so...

Originally Posted by Lord Faust

Thanks for the heads up on geniro too. That I shall check out soon later. Anyways wallet a bit tight and lacking in hard drive space so will not be getting any new B - Games any time soon. Thanks again luckyovermind...^_^

In DWTINA, H is somewhat essential and ties strongly to the story. One of the most prevalent comment on the erogamescape is that "you wouldn't want to recommend this game to normal people", and "this is truly an 18-kin game". But it appears that you are already addicted to it, good luck then

Gin'iro - Gin = silver and iro = color. The link I gave you points to the novelisation. which means you are not required to have the game. That being said, it helps to have the game in hand, as the viewpoint tends to jump around a bit. CGs and music help a lot too. (just look at my avatar and sig, she's so cute ) However, it's pretty hard to get this game nowadays, I myself had a very hard time finding it. If you search for NNS' old games like giniro and mizuiro on himeyashop, it generally returns no result

KID's Ever 17 (hirameki) is a good game, no H and very cheap too (compared to others). Basically the best visual novel in english imo

[aohige]

Sengoku Rance is here, and here to conquer.
They released a demo trailer finally, and god, it's awesome.

I'm gearing up for a WAR.
Haven't been this pumped for an Alicesoft title since... since... well, the last Rance.
No ecchi-scenes in the movie, btw. Just blood-pumping excitement.

This is the big hitter of 2006 holiday season for sure.

[Olf-chan]

I really like The Sagara Family and the X-change series.

[Agilis]

Originally Posted by luckyovermind

On a side note, If you like tear-jerking stories (rather than overall depressing ones like 12-gatsu). I highly recommend giniro. It’s written by narcissu’s author a few years back (at least for the first chapter). Newlife anime’s patch has dropped out of the edge of internet, but agilis did the novelisation of 1st chapter (which is a complete medium length story by itself). Go here: http://neechin.net , click on the FILES to find out more XD

Originally Posted by luckyovermind

Maeda-san has the master technique when it comes to make you cry and laugh, whenever he want....
Kataoka-san's writing is, beautiful, just beautiful. (I know I'm reading translations but I can still feel it )

I was surprised that Neechin was getting visitors since that almost never happens, so just doing a drive-by register'n'hello.

I'm happy that you get a sense of the beauty of Kataoka's writing. I spent countless hours reworking things until I settled into some semblence of a style that I felt satisfied my personal sense of the aesthetic in the original text. It took a fair amount of stretching standard American English a bit to do it I think, but I'm happy it worked even a little. I still go back when I have tiny bits of free time to rework things.

Anyways, the Gin'iro chapter 1 released on neechin is a bit old, it's 99.9% the same as the one I'm still working on for the project, but I think I tweaked a few sentences and lots of footnotes that I've since found awkward. The biggest change however, is the released version was from back when I was writing in MS Word and RTF. (yeah yeah =P) The new version was redone in LaTeX, so it's typeset far better now.

Anyways, thanks to anyone who read it, and I'd really love critical comments to help improve the thing as I go along. email agi.projectmail@gmail.com if you want to get in touch with me.

Now if only I had free time to do more than a few short new lines a month >_<.

~Agi

[Orrin]

Favorite one right now is Muvluv Alternative, and it probably will be for a very long time to come.

Right now I'm playing Lost Child which i like very much so far, except for a certain "event" in chapter 4.

[satsukibun]

Originally Posted by kj1980

So, I have taken a break on buying ero-games unless I know it is really great.

So...what's the next big thing after "Fate" and "Higurashi"? I haven't seen it yet.

Not much interesting to me has come out since Muvluv Alt and Scarlett. And, with long-established houses like F&C, Overflow and Leaf releasing kusoge- "land mines" of various types like Pia Carrot GO, Summer Days and Full Ani as part of some kind of NHK anti-otaku "conspiracy" to discourage bishoujo gaming, your tireless campaigning for Higurashi has been most welcome! I thought Higurashi was just some horror game (Uso da!), but thanks to all the info you've posted, I see that it's the latest in the long line of fix-the-broken-reality stories like Chrono Trigger/Cross, Air, Cross Channel, etc. Which makes it more interesting to me than any ero-game released this year.

But, in addition to the above "conspiracy" of mediocre games and endless fandisks this year, unfortunately for North American importers, I read that Lik-Sang has been shut down by Sony. That, after Amazon Japan had really strangled their exportable products listings to the extent that Amazon is nearly useless to import manga/anime/game/figure fans ("no export of Pinky St figures"? WTF?). It seems there are many more killjoys trying to eliminate foreign interest in Japanese products, even as KyoAni series like Air and Suzumiya Haruhi go unlicensed. No Japanese television station is yet legitimately available to American cable and satellite subscribers despite a crackdown on "pirated" YouTube uploads. The chances that non-Japanese gamers will ever see "moe~ games (Kanon, Kiminozo, Fate and Higurashi) make it in the U.S." has now dropped below even the lowered expectations indicated by sales of the English Crescendo and Ever 17.

If the other importers are also shut down so that I can't buy future Japanese game releases like Espgaluda 2, Pink Sweets, Shikigami no Shiro 3 and Little Busters... Pardon me while I go listen to my melancholy imported Air and Kiminozo game soundtrack albums and reminisce about happier times...

[DingoEnderZOE2]

Originally Posted by satsukibun

Not much interesting to me has come out since Muvluv Alt and Scarlett. And, with long-established houses like F&C, Overflow and Leaf releasing kusoge- "land mines" of various types like Pia Carrot GO, Summer Days and Full Ani as part of some kind of NHK anti-otaku "conspiracy" to discourage bishoujo gaming, your tireless campaigning for Higurashi has been most welcome! I thought Higurashi was just some horror game (Uso da!), but thanks to all the info you've posted, I see that it's the latest in the long line of fix-the-broken-reality stories like Chrono Trigger/Cross, Air, Cross Channel, etc. Which makes it more interesting to me than any ero-game released this year.

Wow it's great to see that my first real topic is still getting posts.^_^ Anyway as for me there really hasen't been much for me with recent Ero-games that I've found were interesting enough for me to spend my time on, but thats fine by me because I'm more of a fan of past ero-games anyway.

Speaking of past ero-games after a few months of putting it off I just completed Pia Carrot GO the other day and here I am finding out that it was a kusoge??? What was so wrong with Pia Carrot GO that made it receive this label? I mean sure the overall character artwork in that installment was a bit lacking compared to the previous installments, and it was alot longer and had much more winnable characters than previous installments(I can understand that with the length combined with the amount of winnable characters can make the game become EXTREMELY repetitive to some....), but looking past the artwork and being patient towards the rest of its "flaws(?)" I actually enjoyed the game. Don't tell me it received that label because Japanese consumers didn't have the PATIENCE for it...

Originally Posted by satsukibun

But, in addition to the above "conspiracy" of mediocre games and endless fandisks this year, unfortunately for North American importers, I read that Lik-Sang has been shut down by Sony. That, after Amazon Japan had really strangled their exportable products listings to the extent that Amazon is nearly useless to import manga/anime/game/figure fans ("no export of Pinky St figures"? WTF?). It seems there are many more killjoys trying to eliminate foreign interest in Japanese products, even as KyoAni series like Air and Suzumiya Haruhi go unlicensed. No Japanese television station is yet legitimately available to American cable and satellite subscribers despite a crackdown on "pirated" YouTube uploads. The chances that non-Japanese gamers will ever see "moe~ games (Kanon, Kiminozo, Fate and Higurashi) make it in the U.S." has now dropped below even the lowered expectations indicated by sales of the English Crescendo and Ever 17.

Say what?? I heard about the sony shutting down Lik-Sang but that didn't bother me that much because I wasn't one of their customers to begin with. But now it appears that You can't import from Amazon Japan anymore? Why?? what happened??? As for there being many more killjoys trying to eliminate foreign interest in Japanese products, what exactly is that supposed to mean? I mean no matter how hard people will try those who are truly interested in foreign products will stay that way until they decide they're not interested anymore.