What Game Are You Playing?, Any bishoujo, not necessarily romance.

Just got done playing Edelweiss and Eiden Fantasia the fancreated sequel. Of the girls in Edelweiss I really enjoyed Ran's route, and I suppose it is something that Ran had more cg scenes than any other route. Natsume, Haruka and Mizuki had less scenes but some more tragic stories. The only route that didn't really grab me was Mei-sensei's route. That said, I was left in Edelweiss wanting to pursue two side characters Sakura and Rin. And Eiden Fantasia provided. Sakura's route was much fun, but I wasn't happy with Rin's route via contrived plot device. Too much lame plot and not enough Rin being Rin. That said, once completing both it unlocked the True End path. All dissatisfactions faded away.

I've finished three storylines (Emi, Shizune, Rin) of Katawa Shoujo かたわ少女. The writing is so good I keep taking screenshots of the text. The game stays on my mind when I'm not playing it, so I'm in pretty deep.

I suggest you to then give latitude to your mind and pour out all of your thoughts about the game in its related thread! Speak up! Post! Share your impressions, feelings and thoughts!

PERSIOM -約束の集う場所- done~
Now going back in time, because I've "always wanted to play it" (hahaha)..., it was released 14 years ago (^^;;;;;) and even its company died years ago. Oh, and I think I've always liked how its main girl (Alice) looks. Leaving aside modern or fantasy settings for a near future (2039), and romance or adventure stories for a cyberpunk one which may be darker than both, I'm now playing C' s ware luv wave, praying it works well on my current computer since it's a Windows 95/98 game. I know, I know: on one hand, I think I should play my XP/Seven games rather than to wait for their OSes to become outdated but, OTOH, I also think it's about time to play all my Win95/98 games! (To be honest, whilst it was released in 1998, I only bought it in early 2001 so it was only 11 years ago... It also means I'm somewhat going forward not backward in my game log, ufufu~)

Still going forward in time, I'm now playing Witch's Milkyway (with Voice) that was released in 2002, if only because Witch* died in 2005, meaning it'd be about time to play their games! After the dark and despair-filled luv wave, let's go back to a simple, fluffy romantic love game~ With a score of 68 at erogamescape, I don't expect it to be that good but it should fit the summer season~

Edit: it's in fact eerily fitting! The game starts on June, 20th, and it's a Wednesday! Just like now and this year!

That, and give me an opportunity to post on the RAML.


The normal witch, not the little one, if you wondered which witch was the witch. Though it'd be about time for me to play my littlewitch games as well. ^^;;;;;;

This post has been edited by OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol on Jun 24 2012, 05:34 PM

Forging ahead in the same direction, I'm now playing Milkyway 2, that was released in 2002 as well.

This may be too far outside the category, but I played Long Live the Queen, a raising sim. At first it seems like it's just an update of Princess Maker, but it turns out that this little princess has tons of enemies trying to depose or assassinate her. I played it more than a dozen times before I got a good ending.

Where is everybody? Anyway, I have been playing Cinders, a visual novel based on Cinderella. The art is very interesting, especially the way the characters' eyes move and occasionally look directly at you. The effect is like looking at a spooky painting.

The writing is sharp and the dialogue is very witty. However, much of the text consists of arguments with the stepsisters and stepmother, and it gets old after awhile.

There appear to be four main endings, but these endings have variants, so I'm not sure how many endings there are. In my second playthrough, I made a lot of different choices yet wound up with the same ending, but a different variant. I don't think there is enough replayability for me to see many more endings, but I did enjoy my first few playthroughs.

Still playing Milkyway2...

Milkyway2 completed~
Enough fluffy stuff (though there was Alice's story...)! I'm now in need for a no-brainer, subpar RPG so I'm playing defunct ZONE's AVARON. The 3D dungeon à la Doom makes me a bit sick but I don't dislike the combat system so, heh. Now, if only I could not getting lost despite the automapping system... though there never was a RPG in which I didn't get constantly lost anyway, regardless of the mapping and auto-mapping system so I guess I'll be alright.

...if it doesn't end in the weird cases where I'll drop the game because I cannot find my way out of the dungeons and get bored, or get lost for so long I forget what the Hell the mission was supposed to be.
If only the maps could make sense, instead of merely displaying the North and sometimes telling you where you're heading! I mean, how in Lain-sama's name is one's supposed to know which direction he'd face after clicking the left arrow when he's facing North? It boggles the mind, despite me having an excellent direction sense IRL. >_<

...more or less.

Now playing プチケロＱ's 「テレビの消えた日」~

Shikkoku no Sharnoth. It had a solid start, but when the focus shifted off Mary - I found my focus waning. Also the voices started to stop. I heard there's a full voice version but I don't think there's an English patch for that, so I just gotta deal with this half voicedness.

It sure was nice an immersive when all of Mary's inner monologues were voiced though.

And finished Sharnoth. It definitely felt draggy in the middle, and there was too much... chaff. They were trying to set up something huge, but ultimately all that fluff wasn't the core of the story anyway and just felt unnecessary. Characters like Heinz and whatever that RAF officer dude was. Lots of threads kinda just clusterfucking up the place. Though I kinda understand its making references a shit load of famous figures back in the day. And these Lovecraft terms.

More focus would be nice. Though I wonder how much shout outs are there to LiarSoft's other games like Inganock and what have you.

Will probably get back to my usual business. Not feeling up to buckling down for another VN just yet, so I'll leave Inganock for later.

Fun ride though, and I do like steampunk/Victorian settings.

Read the 'Epilogue' webnovel. Adds like practically nothing to the story. Was kinda disappointing. And confusing.

This post has been edited by DaRk_KnIgHt on Oct 4 2012, 08:24 AM

Oh well, I decided to stop playing this game.
I bought and played it because a friend of mine told me how weird and interesting an experience it'd be. Indeed, playing the game was... weird. The tone was... full of mood whiplashes: it was as if they mixed the plots of three different game genres, as the game was, at the same time, a ryojoku game, a yandere game and a love comedy. One instant, you had a dark, dead serious ryojoku event... then suddenly, with no warning, it turned into a slapstick comedy! ...to change into a serious love story. Even the protagonist felt at the same as a decent guy, a tragical figure, and a complete monster. Honestly, I could not decide whether I liked it, I disliked it, or was just too weirded by it. It was an interesting game anyway.
Except...
...so I got one of the girls' ending and learnt her relationship to the protagonist. Whilst I was revulsed by his actions to her during the game, I was able to stand it thanks to the mix of silly slapstick love comedy and dark kichiku events (though... still playing slowly because of for how long of the latter I could stand) and because of the weird experience the game offered. However, I got the yandere ending and... one specific ending. Together, both revealed that this game has SO LAINCURSED MANY levels of wrong (and put together some parts of the puzzle that makes the game's plot more solid)... one of them going against my principles, making it impossible for me to complete. Even if the protagonist acted without knowing, I do, thus cannot play his role any longer (besides, I already got the yandere ending, didn't I? ).
Notice that it doesn't mean the game is any bad (I cannot say whether the game is good or bad since it's too weird to be judged...), just that it pushed my wrong buttons. So, heh, it entered my pile of "erogames I started but chose not to ever complete". Which is made of two games, this one included.

Now on to ApRicoT's 『桜花センゴク ～信長ちゃんの恋して野望!?～』. I never got disappointed by any of this brand's games (and its writer) so I have a lot of faith for this one~

So I've been 'on sabbatical' from playing these games for so long I figured I'd never come back to them. I would occasionally think, "I should play [insert game here] but I wouldn't, and there would never be a point where I felt as if I was missing out on something.

Lately though, I couldn't shake the desire to play a game, so I went ahead and fired up Fate / Stay Night. When you think Fate / Stay Night, it's only natural for you to think "Heaven's Feel", so I went into my archives, found my savegame, and loaded up Heaven's Feel. You can't go wrong with a classic, right? Wrong.

So much to say, where to begin? I know. Let's start with Fate Zero. There's so much shit that is referenced either directly or obliquely in Fate Stay, you're reminded of the novels again and again. You can't help but think, "oh yeah, i read that before!" and there's that heady feeling of comfort because you "get it" and a connection is made between the two media. Even if you set that aside, you're immediately dropped into a world that has all sorts of shit going on, so you can't help but not be bored.

That being said, There's not much else that really deserves "glowing praise". The world is essentially well-explained, and the characters are somewhat well-defined, but that's about it. As far as character motivations goes, nothing at all makes sense unless you turn everyone into twelve-year-olds, (Either that or you decide from the onset that every character has a case of ADD, Aspergers, and perhaps a touch of the Downs) at which point everything suddenly becomes crystal clear. Zouken Matou, who is supposed to be hundreds of years old, is nothing more than a petulant prepubescent child with all the awe-inspiring fear that a Candyland monster can bring. Kotomine speaks of human nature as being rigid and inflexible, when anyone who knows anything about anything beyond, say, the age of 16, knows that human nature is fluid, flexible, and malleable. Sakura's no different; I'm reading through (yet another of) her little soliloquies and I can't help but think, "You know, all of this could have been averted if they'd just given her some fucking Ritalin and a Livejournal.". In fact, when you have a character on-screen and going through yet another monologue about how they really feel about the Holy Grail War, it actually helps if you think of them as twelve-year-olds. Everything makes sense, then.

When Sakura goes through her little impotent buttfrustrated rants at the end, the big climax, etc. I can't help but burst out laughing because of the disconnection between how people really are, and the writing.

The story really suffers from the writing. You have pages and pages of literally nothing. For good writing, every scene needs to do four things: Grow the characters, Advance the Plot, Reveal the Setting, and Show the Atmosphere. There's at least 25% (and most likely more like 40%) of the story that revolves around nothing happening. Many of the conversations between characters feel like they're not actually talking to each other; it really feels like they're simply talking at each other, without actually listening to what the other is saying.

A significant portion of that 'nothing' revolves around repeatedly telling Shirou what the Holy Grail War is. Tohsaka explains it to him. Then she takes him to kotomine, who explains it to him. Then they go home, and Saber explains it to him. He still doesn't fucking get it, so Archer explains it to him in a sarcastic sort of way. If that's not enough, Zouken explains it to him again, and then Tohsaka and Illyasviel spend another three chapters explaining the Holy Grail War to Shirou again.

It's a really great way to break the nonexistent tension.

I'm juuuuust about finished with Heaven's Feel (and by finished I mean I have about fifty million chapters of Kotomine and Shirou yelling rhetoric at each other in between long and ultimately useless descriptions of how Shirou's body is getting fucked up (again)) and for the most part I'm pretty much just marking time until the story is finished. It's a great story, just written badly.

Continuing my reintroduction to dsvn, I dug through my archives and I retrieved my Tsukihime saves.

Tsukihime has it's failures in writing. I think most of them are made up for by how the writing is presented.

There's a certain.... poetic feel to Shiki's dreams and memories that make them more evocative than they would otherwise be.

When you play through the game with zero expectations- or perhaps negative expectations, you gain a certain amount of objectivity. I wonder, is it possible to play through Tsukihime without knowing about the game beforehand? What I meant to say is that if you have no expectation, then Kohaku's story is sort of flat. Oh, certainly there are details and impacts that make it what it is, but the way it's presented is just sort of nonsensical. Likewise her retribution is equally sort of... out there. There's more than a certain amount of "keikaku doori" in it, and because there's that feeling of predestined "just as planned" bullshit, I think the whole thing falls flat. If you have the idea "everything is going according to kohaku's plan" then everything makes sense- if you have no such illusions, or perhaps if you are intentionally ignoring them so that you can caustically analyze the story for what it is, it all comes across as contrived.

There are unexpected moments in Tsukihime. There's a surprising amount of... passion in Arcuied's arc, Ciel is enigmatic, Akiha has a quiet, sort of needy side that is only revealed through contemplation, and Hisui... Man, I fell for her all over again. She's got a wellspring of strength I think that is worthy of appreciation.

Moreover, i think there's a lot more depth to Shiki than there is to say, Shirou from Fate Stay Night. Shiki has motivations and needs and fears and desires, Shirou is a bumbling moron that wants to become a superhero.

I think I read somewhere that there was a Yumizuka route planned but never really deployed. I can't see why. Here story always felt sort of ... tacked on. I dunno, maybe I feel this way because I died at her hands so many times and I hate her out of spite right now.

Tsukihime is still high on my list, but Fate Stay Night has fallen.

I wonder if there's another game I'm going to play...

Oh, right, I completed 『桜花センゴク ～信長ちゃんの恋して野望!?～』. Not currently playing any game, though, as I'm currently on pilgrimagevacation in Japan. Unsurprisingly, I quite enjoyed the game, even if the girl I thought I'd like best ended with the worst story, the girl I thought I wouldn't possibly like ended with the very best story, and my favourite girl was probably one of the main antagonists, who regularly opposed the characters in all routes (and even ended as the main boss in one route ---that I happen to enjoy quite a lot for that reason), was slightly murderously insane since all she cared about was to fight and cut people in pieces, and was regularly a hero-killer, all of these in a cheerful and playful mood. I also liked the one "true" Big Bad, since she was such an evil, manipulative and sadistic bitch.

After quite a long rest due to vacation then overwork, I'm starting galgaming again, this tims with Witch's "alive". As you may have guessed, it's merely I didn't dislike "Milkyway" (and its sequel even less) that is a related game (with cameo from some "alive" characters and some of the finishable girls being daughters of some). Let's say that the references to "alive" made me curious.
Oh yeah, playing the renewal version.

I'm actually having fun. Tears to Tiara doesn't actually have to be installed to play, so I've been playing it in a desultory fashion at home, sort of skimming reading the plot and skipping the hilarious sex scenes (they read like poorly written Letters to Penthouse), and really just taking it to the extreme with the combat system. Once I found the save files, I brought the savedata to work with me, and I am a grinding god. I take my armies out to the free maps and grind, grind, grind. The combat system is sort of lol until you grasp some of the basics, the rest is strategic use of automation and lots of archers.

Seriously, it's like the solution to every problem can be the application of gun. If the problem isn't solved with gun, use more gun. I've got entire firing lines of machine-gunning archers, clearing maps with all the subtlety of the LA Riots of '92- all buffed with all sorts of attack speed buffs.

I used to use a mixed-party tactic with front-line fighters, second-line magic users, archers, and spearmen with healers in the back, but really, all you need is six archers up front and two healers in the back, and everything becomes an apocalyptic lollercaust of arrows.

It's so much fun!

As for the rest of the game, I don't really give two farts in a high wind about it. There's no real sense of any affection in this game. It's all women mindlessly throwing themselves at some dude. Character development? What character development? The story is sort of interesting, but only in an abstract sense.

I've just finished reinstalling Fate/Stay Night. I seem to have lost all my save games when I switched to my new computer a while back, and I haven't bothered to reinstall the game until now. I have a long way to go before I get to where I was, and even that was only just after defeating Berserker in the Fate route. A long way to go through a very talky game. But I want to play through UBW as well, so I'm going to try to give it another shot.

It took me until now to finally give the full version of Katawa Shoujo a chance. (I read Tears 9, 10 last year, and spent several months thinking about it...) I have now read the bad ending, and I will eventually read at least one character path. It still baffles me that it has a good reputation, for the following reasons...


* It's only BxG. I figured most fans prefer either varied pairings or no pairings.
* It has some NSFW content. I figured most fans were only interested in worksafe material.
* It's just a visual novel. I figured most fans look for gameplay, and have little interest in stories.
* It seems sincere. I figured most fans prefer broad comedy and parody.
* It's written by English speaking individuals. I figured most fans assume that anything tagged as "OELVN" is a cheap imitation with poor art and writing. I don't personally believe this, but...
* It's freeware. I figured most fans believed in the motto "you get what you pay for."

(Mod Edit: corrected the usage of the spoiler parts)

This post has been edited by OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol on Feb 6 2013, 08:17 AM

As I told Yoshio:

That includes your spoiler parts, about which I'm sure our regulars would be glad to discuss.

Was F/SN always this... verbose and I've just forgotten? So much text... it's taking me forever to make progress.

It is. It's one of the many reasons I advised a friend to finish all three routes in one go, because you're not going to want to have to start from scratch. It's a decent enough read the first time, but anything past that just feels tedious.

Well, I have finally beat the Fate route. Strong, heroic, somewhat bittersweet story. As I expected, I quite despise Gilgamesh, but I figure I'm supposed to.

That's enough for today. I'll move on to UBW sometime. Tomorrow perhaps.