Visual Novels

[MasterOfMoogles]

The PS Vita version apparently comes out 11/27 in Japan. It is remastered, has extra minigames, and is fully voiced.

Given some of the recent Vita adaptations, I wonder if there is any potential this might actually be picked up.
I'm not super hopeful, but I wouldn't have expected we would get Akiba's Trip and SAO: Hollow Fragment.
Fate is pretty popular right now with the new anime, too.

Not getting my expectations up, though.

[shinta|hikari]

Screw voices. Play it dammit.

Return to your roots and use your imagination. Kids these days.

[Kraco]

Screw voices. Play it dammit.

Return to your roots and use your imagination. Kids these days.

You sound like Miyazaki. Voiced VNs are the standard these days. Only doujin circles would release unvoiced ones anymore.

There's Nekopara vol1 demo on Steam if somebody doesn't want to use their imagination, as it sports somewhat animated characters. It was quite weird in the beginning, but I got used to it (and then the demo ended). Hard to say if it's worth anything as a VN, but if you like Sayori's art, like I do, then definitely.

[shinta|hikari]

Who cares what's standard? It's good even without voices.

[David75]

It might be good, but my second most important motivation when playing my first VN were the voices, first one being a deeper immersion in Clannad.
However good that VN might be, however I like the FSN franchise setting, I do not think I can play a voiceless VN. I'm a spoiled brat, I know that.

[Archangel]

Without spoiling can anyone tell me which of FSN's routes Ataraxia follows?

[shinta|hikari]

Mostly Heaven's Feel, but technically a jumble of all.

[shinta|hikari]

OMFG.

I was 98.9% finished with Ataraxia and felt like there was nothing else to see. I intended to close the game, but my obsessive compulsiveness got the better of me. And thank god it did.

What welcomed me in the Eclipse section of the game was Rider's H-scene. That alone made this already fantastic game worth playing.

Rider is hands down hottest character in the Fate Universe. Saber may be the cutest, Rin may be the funniest, (and Sakura is just crap), but Rider seriously takes the cake. WTF.

WTF.

And right after it, I saw a Bazette event pop up. Seems Ataraxia is not over yet.

This game is the funniest thing I've read/watched/experienced in years. It made me laugh out loud literally many times, bothering the other boarders in the staff house.

Illya The Loli Grail was fucking genius.

I expected this to be all fun, but the main plot was also gripping, and the twist, while not unforeseeable, made absolute sense. Everything clicked into place. Amazing writing.

Despite being a fan disc, this probably belongs to the top 5 visual novels I have ever played. I know I am biased because I love Type Moon, but even without that, this is seriously awesome. Fun, fun, fun visual novel. The mini games are hilarious as well. I have a blast destroying Bersercar with different Noble Phantasms.

A voiced version would mean no H-scenes, so I am fine with this version. The dialog can also be extremely wacky at times, so I don't think it will sound good voiced. The chibi characters are hilariously cute, and the way the few character images are used so creatively for humor is just golden.

I highly (I cannot stress this enough) recommend anyone who has played all 3 paths of FSN to play this. You will get much more satisfaction if you know the entire FSN lore.

This story will never be animated given the nature of its delivery. Playing the visual novel is likely the only way for you not to miss out on half your life. Don't waste your short years alive, people.

[MasterOfMoogles]

Did you guys see the Grisaia kickstarter went live?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sekaiproject/the-grisaia-trilogy-three-huge-visual-novels-for-p/description
And funded in less than a day, and looks like it easily will meet the stretch goals they had.

They really are going to translate the whole trilogy in less than a year? I've only played the first one (the only one fan-translated?), and it isn't really short. I hope they do a good job. They're doing Clannad at the same time, too?

I don't really do the kickstarter thing, but I'll definitely consider getting the trilogy + chiruchiru michiru spinoff when it comes out.

[shinta|hikari]

Labyrinth is one of the best VNs out there. Paradise is randomly sucky. I was sorely disappointed. Overall, Grisaia is a must have in any case.

[Kraco]

This game is the funniest thing I've read/watched/experienced in years. It made me laugh out loud literally many times, bothering the other boarders in the staff house.

I'm kind of frustrated with how big a loser Shirou is in this. I hope that will change before long, as I'm only at 36% or something. I get it the structure of the story almost requires something like this, so it couldn't have been avoided entirely no matter what. But it still annoys me considering in FSN he excelled in fights after his own fashion, which is no wonder since he's the Archer precursor. He's such a fool otherwise that if you take away his performance in fights, there's nothing left. No sign of that in Ataraxia so far. I bet Issei would beat Shirou in a 1 vs 1 bout in this game.

[shinta|hikari]

You have Rider and Saber in the same house and you are concerned about Shirou?

There's something wrong with you.

In any case, keep reading. Even Shirou will have his moments.

[MasterOfMoogles]

I'm probably around 50% now. There are some legitimately funny scenes, but man, the plot is purposely told in the most confusing a way possible.
Also, I seriously don't care about the 20+ events involving lunch or dinner. Why in the world did they think it was so interesting to have so many of those?

[shinta|hikari]

Because people like me exist.

[Kraco]

I wonder how they are planning to make the Rewrite anime work. After the common route, the endings for the girls are so vastly different they can hardly try the worst mash'n'mix approach some VN anime adaptations try. On the other hand, the routes are so long that they can't possibly cover more than one to go for the Amagami way. Maybe they'll pick a single route and insert some individual scenes from other routes when possible. In that case I wonder whose route it would be. Or maybe they will do something else entirely. I hope it'll get sufficient production values. I'm looking forward to it in any case, even if with healthy caution. The jokes alone will be worth it, though.

[shinta|hikari]

I'm thinking they will ignore the endings of the girls and just focus on the main story. But seriously, Rewrite is the type of VN that you don't adapt into anime, unlike Grisaia, which still got screwed over on the Fruits series.

[Kraco]

Playing Princess Waltz makes me think Shirou wasn't, after all, such a bad VN main character despite all the badmouthing he's getting (from me as well). He might have been naive and idealistic with his hero complex, but at least he doesn't have a rubber boot's IQ.

Edit: Actually, I feel bad for insulting rubber boots by comparing Arata to them. Even a rubber boot has its pride.

[shinta|hikari]

Why are you even playing that crap?

Go play Dengeki Stryker (the new complete version) or something. Or learn Japanese and play real VNs.

Tokyo Babel (https://vndb.org/v9205) is out, by the way. I read only 1 route in Japanese, and it was pretty good. No sex, but the VA cast is amazing because of that. Seriously, check the link and be amazed at the names they got for this.

Lots of action, which was why I gave up on reading it in moonrunes (too tiresome for little gain), but the English version that just came out should make the looooong battles readable. It's 3rd on my list to read right now.

[Kraco]

Why are you even playing that crap?

Because it has been installed on my laptop for years, practically untouched. With my desktop currently out of commission, I thought I'd finally play it. I don't actually think it's that bad, the MC is just a great fool. At the very least it's not a regular dating sim.

[shinta|hikari]

Skip it and go for Tokyo Babel.