Muv-Luv

[geenius3ab]

Just wondering how many of you have played the masterpiece named ''Muv-Luv'' ?.. It is something that I regard even higher then any of the type-moon pieces (Don't get me wrong.. I love tsukihime, and Fate/Stay Night.. It just goes off to show how good Muvluv is.).
Although the first part you have to play through (Extra), before getting to the good part (Unlimited) .. It might be better to play through Alternative first, as it is full of action, and makes you care for the characters.. And its fight scenes are even better than how they are in Tsukihime and Fate/Stay night.
Extra -> Unlimited -> Alternative .. Is the proper way to play it, but I personally played through Alternative -> Extra -> Unlimited, and I feel it somewhat suited me better, then it would have been in the proper way! ^_^
Go check it out! >_>

[eddyak]

Translated?

Sobzob's been urging me to play them, but I couldn't be arsed to go find out whether they were tl'd.

[terraablaze]

Waiting for it patiently at Amaterasu Translations. Hope they get the whole license thing sorted out soon. They said they would be down a few months back in April so they are still on schedule I suppose.

[DoomRavager]

I've read through all three (Alternative using the leaked patch, which I have found to be pretty much bug-free despite Amaterasu's claims to the contrary), and found the story as a whole at least as awesome as Type-MOON stuff, contending for 'even more awesome' at certain points.

For me the chronological (relatively speaking) reading order seems to be best, since IMO reading Alternative first means skipping the necessary world-building process provided by Extra and Unlimited and hence not feeling the full significance of some of the nods to the events of those two, and at the same time reading Extra and Unlimited after Alternative leaves one fairly underwhelmed in comparison to Alternative's awesomeness. But each to his own.

[I3uster]

I am currently reading Extra, and the first route I played (Sumika) was horrible. Oh god, those maids. THOSE MAIDS. ARRRRGGHHHH.

But I heard it gets much, much better in Unlimited and then culminating in (according to some people) the best VN ever, so I am still motivated.
Besides, I am playing the Ayamine route of Extra right now, and Ayamine is one of the best.heroines.ever.

[geenius3ab]

The main parts are completely translated (Other than the newest one named ''Muvluv Alternative Chronicles'' .. Btw it's different from ''Muvluv Alternative''), and I urge you to pick it up! ^_^

@I3uster did you know that to get to the unlimited content, you have to playthrough both Sumika and Meiya (I have a phobia against sex scenes involving Sumika, it just makes me feel disgusted.. Ain't gonna spoil why, as I played Alternative before Extra/Unlimited.)?
@DoomRavager I beg to differ, as Extra is barely above average in Visual Novel standards (the comedy in there was quite nice.. Though the slapstick kind of tired me out at some point.).. The feelings i gathered while I played through Alternative, gave Extra a somewhat ''mellow'' feel to it and it was great to find out more about the characters (improved both my alternative experience, and also extra experience, when i played through it.). And also I don't think i lost anything, as the explenation on how hard it really was for Takeru the first time, in Unlimited was clearly shown in the flashbacks of Alternative, and his thoughts as well... Although now that I reached Unlimited, I found out that it was a lot harder for Takeru then what was portrayed in Alternative.

[eddyak]

First couple hours of this VN were amazing and hilarious as hell. Guy acts like Rance at the beginning, hittin' bitches, and then all of a sudden, TEACHER IN BRA AT SCHOOL lolwut? and then TEACHER IN BRA'S NIPPLES PRACTICALLY BURSTING OUT OF THE AFOREMENTIONED PIECE OF CLOTHING IN THAT ONE CG, and then all of a sudden WALK IN ON MEIYA UNDRESSING (which, for reasons I don't quite understand, was an incredibly great scene- I've seen a thousand like it, and yet that's pretty much the first time I haven't rolled my eyes and carried on clicking), but then it all sorta went downhill from there, and boring slice of life and WHO CARES ABOUT LACROSSE GIVE ME MORE PVP GUNDAM ACTION.

[DoomRavager]

@DoomRavager I beg to differ, as Extra is barely above average in Visual Novel standards (the comedy in there was quite nice.. Though the slapstick kind of tired me out at some point.).. The feelings i gathered while I played through Alternative, gave Extra a somewhat ''mellow'' feel to it and it was great to find out more about the characters (improved both my alternative experience, and also extra experience, when i played through it.). And also I don't think i lost anything, as the explenation on how hard it really was for Takeru the first time, in Unlimited was clearly shown in the flashbacks of Alternative, and his thoughts as well... Although now that I reached Unlimited, I found out that it was a lot harder for Takeru then what was portrayed in Alternative.

Rest assured that I am able to understand your point of view. Playing through Extra first means tolerating a barely above average story in order to reach Unlimited and Alternative, running the risk of losing interest, but the context provided by Extra enriches Unlimited and Alternative, whereas playing through Alternative first means one is immediately hooked with Alternative's superior story, and then the context provided by Alternative enriches Extra and Unlimited, i.e. keeping it interesting overall as opposed to gradually increasing levels of interesting, in my opinion detracting from Alternative's experience severely but in your opinion not affecting Alternative's interestingness at all. (is interestingness a word?)

Personally I still believe that it is more worth it to read Extra and Unlimited first to have a significantly better Alternative experience as opposed to reading Alternative first to have a somewhat better Extra and Unlimited experience.

However, clearly for you personally very little was lost from not having the context of Extra and Unlimited when reading Alternative, and you preferred having the context of Alternative when reading Extra and Unlimited.

Given that both reading orders have merits, in the end it's all personal preference.

(I'll admit that I lost patience after finishing Extra and actually read Unlimited and Alternative side-by-side for a short time, i.e. read a batch of Unlimited, then read the same events in Alternative, then switched back to Unlimited, etc. until I regained self-control.)

[geenius3ab]

The whole experience of the Muvluv franchise, in my opinion surpasses that of type-moon works, but needless to say that Type-Moon is needless to say a brilliant Visual novel maker as well! ^_^
The ''Losing patience'' part is what matters, as most of the people here might just like a serious visual novel, but in which case Extra would be torture to them, as it doesn't take itself too seriously (Although some important points do.) so Alternative would be a safer bet, as it makes Extra a lot more interesting, with the backstory you know about Alternative. I don't think i would have liked extra too much, and I bet before reading Alternative, I might've skipped through a lot of the information..

[Shikiller]

MLA is one of the best VN ever made, you can't really compare it to type-moon stuff.
The leaked patch translates all of the game, except some images and some voice only lines

[eddyak]

So, I just finished Extra (even though I had to force myself to), and rofl RPG&bullet-proof car. Also thought it was hilarious how he completely forgot all about the driver who pretty much just destroyed his own car and (probably) got himself killed to get him there on time.

[ItsaRandomUsername]

So...anyone kind enough to point me in the direction of this forementioned leaked patch? I would greatly appreciate it~

[DoomRavager]

So...anyone kind enough to point me in the direction of this forementioned leaked patch? I would greatly appreciate it~

PMed you with directions. You should be aware that the leaked patch lacks image translations, i.e. only text is translated, so it would be advisable to play with the R1 up until the end of the coup d'etat arc, then switch to leaked patch.

Also included links to subtitled videos for textless cutscenes like the speeches in Chapter 6 and Chapter 7.

[geenius3ab]

I think that every visual novel fan should know a page named Eroged*wnload.com .. The downloads there have generally a download link with a patch link.

[DoomRavager]

Eh, better take that warez link away before mods see it.

[Cruor]

Why would you read the series in the wrong order >_>;

Everyone should play Akatsuki Haruka Nari AKA Get Raped by BETA. I swear I save after everything I do on Very Easy and still have a difficult time.

Anyway, since I just got back gonna go look into Chronicles 02. Hope we get Defense of Kyoto. Though I doubt it. At least another trailer. Taniyama as the Ikaruga Family Head/Royal Guard Commander has to be one of my favorite VA's. That Ikaruga guy sounds so fucking awesome considering he's both Mana and Maya's superior and the leader of some of the most offensive movements Japan did all while being the head of one of the Five Families (that are in line to be the Shogun). Guy's a boss.


Edit: So I just looked up Chronicles 02 and I seem to have just been super spoilered.

Spoiler:

Yuuhi in TDA might be Meiya in disguise (Yuuhi in 02 is using Meiya's VA and not Yuuhi's) whhaaaaaaaa I should not have found this out from spoilers dammit

Edit2: OH MAY GOOOOOOD MONOCLE IN CG EVEN IF I KNEW IT WAS GONNA BE THERE ALSO JUST AS PLANNED FACES THEY HAD TO HAVE DONE THIS ON PURPOSE


Also I made a post in Random Thoughts Thread but Kouki has kinda hinted at an anime of TE (even though it hasn't finished yet >_>). A TA anime kinda had a leaked announcement by the same people who leaked the To Love Ru second season announcement and a few other things and then Kouki goes and posts things like this and this on his twitter. First one was made a few days after the leak and the second one was a reply to all the comments that was saying he pretty much confirmed the leak. I was intending to make a Muv-Luv Thread after it was officially announced.

[geenius3ab]

Get raped by BETA... I have a phobia against such things (Cause of Alternative.. And also cause of that I have trouble looking at ''person A'' Hscenes.) .. >_>
No worries I played it through both the way I recommend, and the correct way (Meaning i just did a marathon Alternative -> Extra -> Unlimited -> Alternative.). For me the replay value of this game is higher, then Fate/Stay night and such.. For the sheer number of great action scenes, and atmosphere.. And I already mentioned why the way I watched these games is good.
For me the MuvLuv Alternative Chronicles 01 wasn't as good, cause of the cast for the main story of chronicles 01, and feeling wasn't as immersive for me. + the story was ridicolously short.. >_>

[DoomRavager]

@geenius3ab, I'm pretty sure the 'raped by BETA' phrase in this case refers to the ridiculous difficulty level, not actual rape by BETA. Also, was Alternative Chronicles 01 ever translated?

[Cruor]

It's because of the difficulty, yeah. The game is outright impossible on Real (even if there are guides on how to win I still say it's impossible) mode. Chronicles 01 wasn't translated.

[geenius3ab]

<-- Got the patch from a friend, it was somewhat unfinished (Only the main story was translated, though even then some small parts were missing.)

Couldn't spot the meaning, as it was rather late, and my head was fuzzy... Stupid me.. >_>