Community The Visual Novel Council | All Choices Lead To Here

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
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Excellent, I've been looking forward to this!

The first 9-nine- is pretty good and the first ending really caught me by surprise, but it doesn't really answer any of the major questions it raises and ends on an obvious sequel hook.
The price is a bit spicy considering the length, but I'll probably grab it on release anyway.
 

Rosenkrantz

Once Punched Man
Apr 22, 2019
1,020
2,306
113
Any rumors about World End Syndrome hitting PC or Vita? Seems like my kind of VN but I don't own neither Switch nor PS4.
 

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
1,313
93
9-nine- episode 2 has been delayed a week:

:negative-blob:

The build being approved is good news, though.
It'd suck to have to buy the 2nd part of a trilogy from a different shop.
 
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ZKenir

❀ Child of Raikou ❀
May 10, 2019
3,312
9,493
113

They're releasing the update for free to original owners of the game so I'm cool

also

This new release of The Song of Saya includes a major technical update that improves on the fidelity of the visual novel experience. It runs on a new engine that, among other things, adds enhanced resolution options for the game's visuals. To take advantage of this, all the illustrations for the game were re-scanned to more than double the resolution found in the original release. The text has been polished by the original translator as well, making the already great localization even better.
 
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Gevin

Watch Madoka
Nov 16, 2018
1,046
3,194
113
I mean if the Steam release only gets rid of the :lewdblob: scenes nothing of value will be lost
 
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Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
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For those that don't care about getting Saya on Steam, the free upgrade means that you might be able to save a bit by buying the original version of Saya no Uta before the remaster is released. The game is currently 35% off (or about €14.7) at JAST USA:


That's just a guess on my part, as the actual price of the remaster hasn't been announced.
But I doubt that it'll be cheaper than the old version of Saya.
 
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Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
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I wonder if it's because payment processors don't wanna be associated with their content or what?
It sounds like it, considering that they are contemplating "some website modifications" in order to get a new payment processor.
 

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
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Gensou Rougoku no Kaleidoscope Horror Game Penned by Ryukishi07 Announced for PS4, PS Vita, Switch
Entergram and 07th Expansion announced Gensou Rougoku no Kaleidoscope, or Kaleidoscope of Phantasm Prison. It’s a horror visual novel for PS4, PS Vita and Nintendo Switch. Gensou Rougoku no Kaleidoscope features a scenario by Ryukishi07, character designs by Itaru Hinoue, and music by Dai and xaki. The game will launch this winter in Japan.

Gensou Rougoku no Kaleidoscope is described by Entergram as a “girls mental suspense” game. Ryukishi07 commented on the game, asking if we’re ready to plunge into the “bottomless”, “darkest” parts of his writing. He mentioned Itaru Hinoue’s designs have a feeling of cuteness and innocence you rarely find in other designs. He also said the story is about a group of four close friends who will get everything ruthlessly stolen from them. Ryukishi07 also compared Gensou Rougoku no Kaleidoscope to the mix of joy and sadness one would get when destroying a tower of blocks they spend so much time piling up.
The few details they drop sound really interesting, so I really hope we get an English translation at some point. More music by Dai and xaki is also nice.

The artist, Itaru Hinou, is mostly known for CLANNAD, and more recently for Koropokkur in Love, and whie it is a huge step up from Ryukishi07's ham-hands (as charming as that art is) it is not that exciting either. But then again, I'm mainly here for Ryukishi07's writings.
 

fsdood

Junior Member
Jan 9, 2019
465
441
63
Do you need to play or watch Chaos;Head before playing Chaos;Child? Chaos;Head VN doesn't have English localization from what I'm seeing but there is an anime.
 
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Ascheroth

Ascheroth

Chilling in the Megastructure
Nov 12, 2018
5,119
11,978
113
Do you need to play or watch Chaos;Head before playing Chaos;Child? Chaos;Head VN doesn't have English localization from what I'm seeing but there is an anime.
The anime is supposedly really terrible as far as I know.
I think Knurek mentioned they aren't really connected much and playing Chaos;Child right away should be fine, but I can't confirm or deny this myself :p
 
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「Echo」

鈴鹿御前。
Nov 1, 2018
2,661
7,356
113
Mt. Whatever
Compared to the VN the anime adaptation of C;H is trash, yes, but by itself without context of the VN, it's not downright terrible? Like it's serviceable and you'd probably be able to recognize the easter eggs in C;C and other Science Adventure games because of it.

... besides, the anime gave us this! (Which I always hum at the weirdest times.)

Edit: Ah, it's so stupid but I love this song to get me out of a bad mood. :awwblob:
 
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Knurek

OG old coot
Oct 16, 2018
2,438
5,999
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The anime is supposedly really terrible as far as I know.
I think Knurek mentioned they aren't really connected much and playing Chaos;Child right away should be fine, but I can't confirm or deny this myself :p
The games are about as connected as Steins;Gate is with Chaos;Child.
C;C does spoil some C;H plot points, but it's only noticeable if you played C;H.
 
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ZKenir

❀ Child of Raikou ❀
May 10, 2019
3,312
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The anime is supposedly really terrible as far as I know.
I think Knurek mentioned they aren't really connected much and playing Chaos;Child right away should be fine, but I can't confirm or deny this myself :p
I have played C;C without C;H and I had no issues following the story at all, towards the end you get some C;H references which spoils some stuff as Knurek pointed out but whatever.
It's fine to go ahead and play it without C;H.
 
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Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
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I would expect them to delay other titles as well
That seems very likely.
They might keep releasing (all-ages) titles on Steam, like they did with Higurashi chapter 7, but I guess that depends on how desperate they are.

Denpasoft and JAST also possibilities, but I suspect that MangaGamer isn't interested in boosting their direct competitors.
 
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ZKenir

❀ Child of Raikou ❀
May 10, 2019
3,312
9,493
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I suspect that MangaGamer isn't interested in boosting their direct competitors.
They probably aren't, JAST has now all the VN publishers (even those with their own store) except from Mangagamer, so unless it's a do or die I don't see that happening.
I wonder how long they can keep going in the current situation though, been months now? I doubt everyone who would be interested in purchasing games is going through their support and then arranging a paypal transaction, most probably can't be bothered.
 
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Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
1,313
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They probably aren't, JAST has now all the VN publishers (even those with their own store) except from Mangagamer, so unless it's a do or die I don't see that happening.
They are also missing FAKKU, who has published a few nukige and have more on the way, but I expect that FAKKU is staying away from other stores for the same reason as MangaGamer.


I wonder how long they can keep going in the current situation though, been months now? I doubt everyone who would be interested in purchasing games is going through their support and then arranging a paypal transaction, most probably can't be bothered.
They've been without a payment process for about 40 days, but yeah, it's a good question how long they can keep going like this:

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm certainly not bothering with their support while they try to sort this out.
Their website is kind of crappy, so I try to purchase their stuff off Steam whenever possible.
 
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ZKenir

❀ Child of Raikou ❀
May 10, 2019
3,312
9,493
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They've been without a payment process for about 40 days
damn felt much longer

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm certainly not bothering with their support while they try to sort this out.
Their website is kind of crappy, so I try to purchase their stuff off Steam whenever possible.
I'm the same but mostly because any VN publisher could go under in the blink of an eye, while Steam is going to outlive them all.
 

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
1,313
93

A few of us are starting a MetaCouncil visual novel book club, starting with 428: Shibuya Scramble (VNDB). It'll be a pretty casual thing, mostly just a place for people to speculate and chat while reading the same visual novel, so you can read along at your own pace.

A thread will be going up by tomorrow, but if this sound interesting to you and you do not already own 428, then you can still have a bit of time to grab with an 80% discount on Steam:
 

AHA-Lambda

MetaMember
Oct 9, 2018
2,811
7,247
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Does Song of Saya only have one ending?

I see it's quite short for a VN? That's actually quite a good thing imo! Not everything needs to be 50+ hours =/
 

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
1,313
93
Does Song of Saya only have one ending?

I see it's quite short for a VN? That's actually quite a good thing imo! Not everything needs to be 50+ hours =/
Saya has 3 endings in total.
And yes, it is pretty short, but it also lacks the padding that you normally find in longer titles.
 
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Kvik

Crossbell City Councillor
Dec 6, 2018
4,149
10,267
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Downunder.
A few of us are starting a MetaCouncil visual novel book club, starting with 428: Shibuya Scramble (VNDB). It'll be a pretty casual thing, mostly just a place for people to speculate and chat while reading the same visual novel, so you can read along at your own pace.
I'm looking forward to your impressions! I enjoyed it so much it earned a permanent spot on my Steam profile page, a spot normally reserved for Trails games.

I want to re-read it again, maybe in the summer, I feel like it's a perfect summer read for me.
 
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Ascheroth

Ascheroth

Chilling in the Megastructure
Nov 12, 2018
5,119
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I'm looking forward to your impressions! I enjoyed it so much it earned a permanent spot on my Steam profile page, a spot normally reserved for Trails games.

I want to re-read it again, maybe in the summer, I feel like it's a perfect summer read for me.
Damn that's high praise.
You know what, the sale is still going, so I'll just grab it as well.
 
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Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
1,313
93
Eliza, the visual novel by (the writer at) Zachtronics is out:

Sadly, Eliza will have to wait a bit despite the really interesting premise, cause the Visual Novel book club thread is now up and running. I hope to see you there:
 

Kvik

Crossbell City Councillor
Dec 6, 2018
4,149
10,267
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Downunder.
Looks like the cut content from the Steam version will be coming as paid DLC via JAST USA shop.


The original owners will still have the remastered edition patch for free.
 
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Ascheroth

Ascheroth

Chilling in the Megastructure
Nov 12, 2018
5,119
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Looks like the cut content from the Steam version will be coming as paid DLC via JAST USA shop.


The original owners will still have the remastered edition patch for free.
So, do we know yet what's actual cut?
 

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
1,313
93
It looks like the Steam patch has been delayed (per their Discord):
BioDio said:
Plan was to release all patches at the same time, but since we noticed there would be a delay, we decided to release the game on time and just solve the patches issues in due time.

Paying for a patch??
The Steam release is also a bit cheaper than the JAST USA release, but personally I am not a fan of that model.


Ninja-edit:
The patch for the (old) physical edition is up:
 
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ZKenir

❀ Child of Raikou ❀
May 10, 2019
3,312
9,493
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looks like it



This is wild, if it actually makes it to being sold.
 
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Kvik

Crossbell City Councillor
Dec 6, 2018
4,149
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Downunder.
There's a little bit of sound issue in the Steam version of Saya.

Basically, there is no sound output when the sampling rate and bit depth in the Sound Control Panel applet is set to higher than 16bit/48Khz.

I didn't remember this being an issue before, so I booted up my old copy of Saya and I can confirm the sound plays in the old copy, right up to 24bit/192Khz.

I'll submit a bug report in the Steam Community thread.
 
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AHA-Lambda

MetaMember
Oct 9, 2018
2,811
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I'm assuming the Saya patch will be for sale through steam?

Seems to already be up on their site, not sure if it's a Steam key though

 
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Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
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The following is a list of textual changes to the Steam version of Saya no Uta. The changes were determined by doing text extraction on both the 18+ and the default Steam version of the game (using Textractor) and comparing the text from both of these. Because I had to use Textractor, there may be mistakes or omissions in the change-list, for which I apologize.

Explicit CGs can be assumed to be removed or toned down, unless otherwise specified, but note that I did not do a careful comparison of those.

Note that list is very spoiler heavy, so do not read unless you have already finished Saya:
  1. Sex scene is omitted, but serveral pieces of dialogue that takes during this scene is retained, making the nature of their relationship apparent. Fuminori still talks about Saya giving herself to him "body and soul" and he talks about being "joined with her". CG shows naked Saya from her shoulders up, resting on Fuminori's chest.
  2. The part of a sentence where Saya tells Fuminori that "I want you to make love to me" is removed; the rest of the sentence is retained.
  3. Sex scene removes most details, leaving the "action" unspoken while still making it clear that they are having sex.
  4. A line in which Yosuke refers to Saya as "little girl" is changed to "girl".
  5. Saya's rape is retained, up until just before the line where Yosuke penetrates Saya, and including Yosuke expressing his intent; what Fuminori sees upon returning is no longer described in explicit details. The CG showing Saya's rape is censored, showing only a few body parts.
  6. A line during Saya's attack on Yoh is changed to remove mention of Saya sucking on Yoh's nipples.
  7. While bathing together, a description of Saya's naked body is replaced with a "I'm home and doing fine" type statement (paraphrased).
  8. A line in which Saya mentions Fuminori "filling her" with something is change to him "giving her" something every night. The meaning is still pretty obvious.
  9. A sentence in which Saya suggests having sex with Yoh together with Fuminori is removed, and Fuminori details of rape of Yoh is almost completely omitted, leaving only a few mentions of his sadistic treatment of her during the rape, including (strongly) implied penetration. It is still pretty obvious what is happening. A lot of Fuminori's sadism is omitted, but the fact that he is sadistic towards Saya is conveyed quite clearly.
  10. The scene in which Yoh is pleasuring Fuminori during a phone call is toned down; mentions of explicit acts are removed replaced with more euphemistic descriptions "she was attending to me", "I entrust myself to Yoh's eager touch", etc.
  11. Text describing Saya pulls Yoh away from Fuminori and takes over, is completely omitted, losing a bit text describing Saya's monopolizing Fuminori's bodily fluids.

To summarize, the changes seem to do a good job of just removing the sexually explicit text, while still retaining the fact that sex happens, and while still retaining the parts of those scenes that are important to the story. Other scenes are toned down, but still convey what (I believe) they were meant to convey.

All in all, I think that the editor did a good job of creating a "all ages" version of Saya no Uta, and would gladly recommend it to those that are looking for a version of saya "without the porn".

The exact changes can found here. Lines starting with a minus are not in the Steam version, while lines starting with a plus are only in the Steam version.
 
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Lain

serial experiments
Sep 20, 2018
104
224
43
Thanks for your work Exzyleph .

Woah, taimanin on Steam. What a time to be alive.
 
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uraizen

Junior Member
Oct 7, 2018
697
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There's one thing in the Saya remaster I noticed that might be different even with the uncensored patch. Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't there a CG image of the doctor with her arm limp from the axe while Koji was hallucinating in his ending?. Ending spoiler.