General Visual Novels Thread

[Oz1337]

The last visual novel I read is a short one called "The language of love", which is about a romance between a person studying in order to get into university and a mother that is single and with a child due to circumstances that are explained in the novel. It was an entertaining read, and it's quite cheap too, at 10€ in Steam if you live in Europe.

But for long VNs, it's been a long time since I've seen anything announced that is worth reading honestly. I think there was something from Key but I don't recall if it was successful or not.

[weeblord]

I’m just glad more actual VNs are getting announced after what feels like at least a year since anything of note was announced, and like 2 years since anything worth it got a TL

(Seriously have we gotten anything worth playing since yumina the ethereal?)

Yumina got its TL 2013 so yeah theres been quite a lot these last... 6 years lol.

last VN I played was Root double and eh. Didnt really feel it. Waaaaay too much repetition and it wasnt as clever and mindfucky as it thought it was. nakazawas still chasing the ghost of the brickshitting experience of Ever17’s Coco route. I preordered Uchikoshis new game on the switch, lessee if he fares better. Probably not because Zero Time Dilemma was fucking garbage.

Oh Btw last month was Ever17’s 17th anniversary.

[weeblord]

[bassgs435]

It's a complex issue. I get not wanting to be underpaid. But fandom demands releases, and meeting said demands means companies aren't going to be able to afford to pay much because sales just aren't there due to VNs being extremely niche, and piracy being so spread. Maybe there's some malice to it, but even Arunaru's post says the low sales don't help at all

[weeblord]

Apparently visual novels with console versions pay much better since ps and nintedno owners actually buy their games, but thats only possible for non-ero vns or ero vns that got beeg enough to warrant a port.

[bassgs435]

Yep. Steiner said that. Which is why he basically moved on from PC VNs to videogames, VNs with console releases (Hell, he was apparently planning Dies Switch back when the Light and Greenwood death happened) and LNs. But when you work with Alicesoft stuff like Rance, you aren't seeing console versions anytime soon

[Mcjon01]

It’s not reeeally a complicated issue though, if you can’t find a way to stay in business without resorting to using slave labor maybe that’s a sign your business just, uh shouldn’t exist. There’s clearly negligible demand for the product or there’d be fucking sales lol.

[SpoonyViking]

Also, fandom can demand as much as it wants, no one is entitled to a product just because they want it - especially not to the point people are forced to work for unfair wages.
Unless it's non-fattening, sugar-free chocolate which still tastes like chocolate.

[weeblord]

Finished Raging Loop, it was good. Kinda farted itself with the climax but the journey was highly enjoyable and characters were very good. I can see why Nasu thought it was a masterpiece though with all the talk about etymology of myths.

But tbh probably best thing about it was that for once you get to play a death game as a proactive sly schemer instead of a passive nice guy. Really cool VN protag.

[weeblord]

Started playing Baldr Force. The opening had me feeling extremely euphoric nostalgia despite this being my first time playing, because its been featured in so many old niconico MADs and medleys I used to watch as a teen in 00s. It was also on an old /jp/ soundtrack and on every top 100 eroge OPs lists.


its a little dated in various aspects, understandable for a 2002 eroge, but nothing too bad. In fact the interface is very snappy and smooth for a game this old. Ive finished one route so far, very hype prologue but the route was super underwhelming but Ive heard all the good stuff happens after the first couple meh routes.

[weeblord]

Another VN behemoth falls, as KEY finally takes the leap to mobile kusoge. Heaven Burns Red is the name.

At least theyre transparent about it, Maeda himself admits the PC VN markets state does not allow KEY to keep making their games anymore and phones are their last chance.

[weeblord]

Finished Baldr Force, now to wait for that Baldr Sky to drop.

Honestly Force had loooots of issues, such as the good 3 routes being locked behind 3 aggressively meh routes, tedious gameplay, light speed pacing sucking emotion out of things and running like shit on modern computers (lost count on how many times it crashed...). But I can see why its considered a classic kamige, the scenario was probably mindblowing in 2002. Insanely good setting, and the way every faction was explored through the different routes was great. Also once again, fantastic OP.

[Skull]

Started playing "Raging Loop" finally.

The bit at the beginning where the interface lady talks about uploading gameplay to the internet bemused me as it must be very bad for business given the boom in these "Let's Players" and whatnot over the past decade.

Oh well, regardless the game itself is very interesting so far~

[weeblord]

^Haruaki is such a perfect protag for this type of game. What an awesome douche.

As for me, got started on Baldr Sky. Currently finished the first route, clocking at 18 hours. One down, 5 more to go. My ass hurts because ive been sitting on it for so long, playing almost nonstop, completely gripped both by the world and the mystery. What a great fucking VN. It almost renders Baldr Force obsolete because everything that sucked there is great here, and everything that was good became excellent. It features some of the same themes, such as amnesia and revenge driven MC, but theyre implemented with so much more finesse. Baldr Force had me rolling my eyes at the amnesia, here its a super intriguing plot point and the key to the mystery of the whole story and has me thirsting for more. The lightspeed pacing that sucked the soul out of scenes in Force is much more reasonable in Sky. Oh and the gameplay, hoooooly shit. Baldr Force was slightly obnoxious, Sky is super fun. Interesting to see if the other routes end you on other sides of the conflict as they did on Baldr Force.

[weeblord]

Finished the 3rd and last route of Baldr Sky Dive 1, with the ingame clock showing 52 hours.

yeah... what a great VN. Insanely good and fleshed out setting, great OST, super likable characters, extremely fun gameplay. The routes just got progressively better. Rain was a 7, Nanoha was an 8, Chinatsu was a 9.

now to dive (heh) into dive 2 and figure out what the fuck is going on.

[Tobias]

baldr what now?

*googles*

never heard of it, but apparantly its part of series? do I need to play something else first?

[weeblord]

Nope. Theyre set in the same world but thats it. Just jump straight into Sky.

i played Force, which is by the same writer as Sky, and at worst you’ll miss like... less than a handful of references.

[Skull]

Finally finished the main story of "Raging Loop". Damn that was a good VN, I can see why Nasu likes it and it's definitely in my top 5 of all time.

Haruaki Fusaishi is the absolute scummiest douche of all time, yet that's what makes him such a great MC. Especially the confrontation with the villain at the end, woo lad Reigen Arataka would be proud son.

Probably give it some time before I replay the VN in "Revelation Mode" and the Extra Stories.

[Skull]

Started a new VN - "Our World Has Ended".

From the opening scene I can already see the unflattering comparisons to Steins;Gate...but I don't mind it personally. The concept behind the plot is interesting and the characters are colourful.

One thing that has stood out to me was the choice to make a time limit for the dialogue options. Not really seen that before in a pure VN and it makes me sweaty palms in case I pick the wrong choice.

[weeblord]

Sakura Wars also had a lot of timed choices. The funny thing was that there were instances where letting the timer run out was the best answer. Silence is gold when two stubborn heroines pull you into their bullshit argument.