Angel Beats! Visual Novel Discussion Thread

[dark998]

So basically they are going for segmented scenario format ala Baldr Sky but with six games instead of two...which means we won't see the full scenario till 2016-2017. Oh well, I hope the routes for Yusa and the GirlDeMo members get released asap.

[Arturia Polaris]

Wait so we're getting a Mass Effect style VN?

This'll be interesting.

CHeers

[GDB]

Episode 10 seems like a REALLY weird spot to end the "common route". That's pretty much the beginning of the end-game. I could maybe see it meaning the beginning of ep10, or in other words 1-9 (through Otonashi learning of his past), but even then...

Doesn't seem like it'd allow for much branching. Especially if they want to focus on Iwasawa, Yui, and Matsushita 5-dan (who had disappeared for a while during these episodes).

[Arturia Polaris]

Oh I actually do think it can have a lot of branching.

I was once shooting around an idea in my head for fanfictions.

Spoiler for fanfiction ideas related to how it could branch out:

So yeah, this is mostly just conjecture from my own part, but imagine if instead of being inside a "purgatory" like they are told they are just inside a mental institution plugged in to machines which built a world like SAO to try and rehab those mental patients?

Notice how all of them have potential of being mentally unstable, Yuri's siblings were murdered, Iwasawa was beat as a girl and died hopeless, Otonashi had a crap life till he found a reason to live for a few months.

What if that machine they are plugged into gives them a temporary amnesia to try and remove their common sense from the world and rebuild the common sense from scratch? Of course this implies that if the system is closed to the outside to prevent external influences and have them live a normal life the only way to change something if it goes awry is to go inside and deal with the amnesia issues.

This is my theory on what could have been a better ending. Tenshi is really a psichiatrist student or something and she volunteered to go in to stop students from going crazy once they notice the system has a tiny loophole where people like Yuri start going for answers. Of course once it all got really out of hand Otonashi (a doctor or something) went in to help Tenshi out and try and heal all of those people. Sadly Otonashi had to lose his memories.

Now I have two possible branches here. A) Otonashi died and was revived after the accident and lived on to go to medical school. B) The machine is programmed to implant sad memories to have those people plugged in to it build up their personality gradually, or at least partially.

If it's A then the amnesia does not let him remember him living on, if it's B then Otonashi was trusting on himself remembering Tenshi to regain consciousness.

As I said, this is all just a fanfiction I've been shooting around my head for a while, but as you see, you can have a LOT of branching out from that point.

Spoiler for fanfiction idea 2:

Another idea to branch out would be what I thought would have been a more interesting ending (and probably the yurippe ending). Imagine if she decided to become god and suddenly she starts controlling the whole system, while we have Otonashi and who's left of the SSS trying to fight the new god of the system? She'll basically be a new Tenshi, but while Tenshi was trying to "help", she's going full Noda on their skins.

A lot of bloodshed a la Steins;Gate later we'll have a conclusion

So yeah. Branching out is possible. Specially if you're a god like Jun Maeda

Cheers

[Marcus H.]

GDB: Well, We don't know how much of the anime would be changed for the Visual Novel. Maeda has mentioned long ago that he wanted to rework Otonashi and the story of AB! due to the negative feedback the anime series received after the broadcast.

Spoiler for Anime Details included:

I think the common route would involve Operation Tornado (the ticket-blowing concert of GDM) and Operation Descent (a good introduction op for Kanade). Here, Otonashi would spend some time familiarizing himself with the afterlife and the conflict between the SSS and Kanade. Several days of interactions with other characters would allow the player to branch out to the available routes.

Iwasawa's route would probably be an extended version of Episode 4, shifted to several days after the common route instead.

Matsushita's route is a "bromance" route introduced after Otonashi longs to be stronger, probably after an event reminds him of his helplessness in battle.

Yui is gonna be weird. They can allow Yui to interact with Otonashi without Iwasawa disappearing, but they can also force players to clear Iwasawa's route to unlock Yui's. Nonetheless, since Yui is involved with a large chunk of the story in the anime, it's gonna contribute to what her route would end up in the VN.

[Mazryonh]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

I've taken the sub-forum out of retirement given the nature of the news about the game series, since I think it may spawn new interest in the anime (and may, in fact, possibly spawn a new anime, but that's total speculation on my part).

A Vita release means this is going to be all-ages. Too bad; I was thinking they would ask Harumi Sakurai to make use of her eroge voicing experience for this project. Who exactly is it who will illustrate this VN?

Knowing Maeda's other works, he won't hesitate to royally screw his characters over this time (like all the other times). The problem with this approach is that it's likely to desensitize his audience, and with all the character routes how many times can the players stomach this before it gets old and tired?

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by dark998

So basically they are going for segmented scenario format ala Baldr Sky but with six games instead of two...which means we won't see the full scenario till 2016-2017. Oh well, I hope the routes for Yusa and the GirlDeMo members get released asap.

Assuming it goes down like this

That would be longer or shorter than how long Key has milked Clannad again?

[Excorsism]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

[*]All the main characters on the front (men and women) will get routes, but they won't all get (romantically) involved with Otonashi

My one fear was they were going to make every girl a possible romantic interest, my concern being Yui. This is good news because I can't accept any other pairing other than Yui and Hinata. Guess I better brush up my skills so I can blaze through the VN come spring 2014.

[tsunade666]

Hmm... so it will be an otp or ensemble cast setting. The routes will be not romance story but plot story for each member.

[Dr. Casey]

Neat, the Angel Beats characters got a second chance at life and now so does the subforum itself. So the series will begin April-June 2014 and end October-December 2016... I wonder if the serialized nature of the Angel Beats VN will start a bit of a trend amongst visual novels. Probably not since the super popular Higurashi and Umineko failed to do so, but at any rate the details relentless shared makes this sound like a very interesting project.

[Marcus H.]

^ It's also a threat in itself. We don't know if such a "style" would work. I mean, will fans be patient enough to wait for two years for the VN to be fully complete?

[ukulelembo]

Confirmed writers for Angel Beats visual novel:
Jun Maeda
Kai (wrote Kyou's, Ryou's, Kappei's and Yukine's routes in Clannad)
Leo Kashida (with Maeda co-wrote Tomoyo After and wrote Mio's route in Little Busters!)

Also confirmed new Ending song for novel.

[Arturia Polaris]

We're finally getting a normal stream of news for this. It's about damn time.

Cheers

[smilewolfy]

So, based on decisions it can affect the main characters sexuality
and also there are going to be routes for the guys (though not every route will get romance)

Does this mean I might actually get the Otonashi x Hinata route I've always wanted? just NTR Yui :3


I was thinking, with each of the characters routes, I don't think they would all necessarily disappear at the end of them. I can see characters like Hinata, Yurippe, Kanade, Shiina etc staying around for the (Final Route) if there is one~

And if the common route ends at episode 10 (Yui's route), I would assume they mean end of episode 9. So, do you guys think that Common Route would have Otonashi realize Kanade isn't as evil as everyone thought, or was that just part of her own Route :/

Or would it mean he realizes the truth of the world and decides to help each character (which would be their own route), but to me that sounds episodic, or something in that sense.

And in episode 1-9, we had Yurippe, Iwasawa, Hinata and Naoi routes, so would those parts not go in the common route? I can see mission parachute being in the common route and omitting that Yurippe scene, but the baseball game, would that go in common route or a part of Hinata's arc?

so many questions and theories I have for this game >< can't wait until we get more info

[ukulelembo]

Official website launched!

[Arturia Polaris]

Damnit, beaten to the punch.

Ishter kun (pianist from youtube) posted it on his fb account and I was all over the place squealing like a girl.

We're almost here. Seems like eternity.

[tsunade666]

eternity indeed. It will feel an eternity waiting for translation and each installment.

[smilewolfy]

OMG!!!!! excitement levels rising xD

EDIT: wait, is it just meant to be a loading sign for now, to tease us, or is it just my slow internet? D: because I can't see anything except for the loading sign -3-

[Wigwams]

Currently its just showing some artwork... or am i missing something?

[Marcus H.]

^ It's just a teaser site for the moment. By the end of December 2013, it would probably have a lot more content than just BG graphics.