Community The Visual Novel Council | All Choices Lead To Here

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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LOL, yeah, that's a nope for me.
Just looking at the preview CGs is enough to put me off from reading it forever 🤢


But speaking of horrible things, I'll be organizing a Spooktober visual novel book club for next month:

As per usual it is rather informal, with no fixed schedule, so I come that you will all join if you feel like reading horror VNs next month.

If you have any favorite horror VNs you'd like to promote, then please PM me a short text here (or via discord or Steam), and I'll include it in the OP.
A thread will be posted no later than the 1st of October.
 
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Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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I'd still like to understand how much is available for purchase here 😕
It sounds like from the description that it's just the first episode? If so that is really damn steep for$40
I'd assume that this release only gets you part one of four, based on the description and given that there has been no official statements suggesting otherwise. If it was a one-time payment for all four episodes, then I would have expected MangaGamer to advertise the fact, considering that it makes the purchase that much more appealing.

I wonder if the high price has something to do with the simultaneous release of the Japanese/English versions, since VNs generally cost an arm and a leg in Japan. The price is similar to Umineko Saku, which is 5185 JPY on Amazon.co.jp or about $48 (EDIT: However, that appears to include all previous Umineko releases).



I'll still be getting it day one

 
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AHA-Lambda

MetaMember
Oct 9, 2018
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I'd assume that this release only gets you part one of four, based on the description and given that there has been no official statements suggesting otherwise. If it was a one-time payment for all four episodes, then I would have expected MangaGamer to advertise the fact, considering that it makes the purchase that much more appealing.

I wonder if the high price has something to do with the simultaneous release of the Japanese/English versions, since VNs generally cost an arm and a leg in Japan. The price is similar to Umineko Saku, which is 5185 JPY on Amazon.co.jp or about $48 (EDIT: However, that appears to include all previous Umineko releases).



I'll still be getting it day one

Yeah I'll be getting it too as I expected about that price anyway, and cos it's 7th expansion, but it certainly seems steep for $40.

There's only been an announcement of the 4 episodes so far, yes? Not how that may split with any Question/Answer arcs, or timeframes for further episodes?
Info on this is quite sparse so I assume nothing has been said.
 
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Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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Wow it finally came out.
It looks really good, but there is a catch:
dovac @ SP Discord said:
The Steam version includes the extra cgs and scenarios

The Denpasoft version does not include those, but it is no mosaic.

If you have infinite time, play the Steam version first, then use the [18+ patch] and play it again to get everything?
In other words, it is another situation like Dies Irae, where there isn't a single version that includes all content.
I'll probably just read the all-ages version and then I can fast-forward through the 18+ version if I ever feel like reading that content (the patch is free).
 
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AHA-Lambda

MetaMember
Oct 9, 2018
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For anyone who has completed AI Somnium Files

why could Date and Saito remember things from other story branches? That wasn't actually explained
 

beep boop

MetaMember
Dec 6, 2018
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Playing through Steins Gate 0 and while I’m enjoying it overall, I’m not a fan of how overly pervy this game is compared to the first. Like, in SG it was at least mostly limited to Daru and part of his character, but in 0 all the women go out of their way to wipe each other down, talk about each other’s underwear, undress around one another and do all sorts of other homoerotic stuff for no reason other than the reader’s titillation. I’d get it if this was a bishojo style game/series, but it feels very out of place here.
 
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Kvik

Crossbell City Councillor
Dec 6, 2018
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Downunder.
I've finished my re-reading of Yu-No on the weekend. (True ending, 99%). That scene still left a bad taste in my mouth like the first read, but at least I know what to expect this time around. Mio's ending is still my favourite out of the three. I'm keen to see how they handled Ayumi's route in the new game this coming Wednesday.

I'm continuing with ML Alternative in the meantime, plus whatever is in the reading list for VN Book Club for Oktoberfest Spooktober.
 
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Kvik

Crossbell City Councillor
Dec 6, 2018
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Downunder.
The RPG-systems addition looks neat, but I'm not sure crowdfunding will be the way to go. :02sad:

Not sure if I wanted to back it, though. I'm still on the fence about backing Compass of Dei Gratia as well, although Lemnisca's work was quite good from what I've seen in Root Double. :02think:
 
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Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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For anyone who has completed AI Somnium Files

why could Date and Saito remember things from other story branches? That wasn't actually explained
I think it's a nod to the "parallel dimensions" thing that Iris keeps going on about.
Which, when you think about it in the context of the game structure, she is completely right about,
 

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
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The Compass of Dei Gratia -On The Fifth Day- kickstarter has launched:
Compass of Dei Gratia -On the Fifth Day- is an indie visual novel originally created and released in Japan in 2015 by indie developer Catalyst. A thriller/mystery/science fiction visual novel depicting the story of a group of survivors trapped in a sunken submersible, Compass of Dei Gratia is an homage to famous science-fiction visual novels such as Ever17 -Out of Infinity-. Although this is an indie title, the captivating story content and length are celebrated to be on par with many major visual novels releases in the genre.
 
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beep boop

MetaMember
Dec 6, 2018
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Despite thoroughly enjoying Steins Gate, SG0 is really not doing it for me. It’s not just the incessant and completely out of place “fan service” I wrote about earlier but the writing in general. A lot of the stuff that bothered me in Chaos Child is in this too. Most prominently it’s divergences in paths that don’t make much sense, a heavier reliance on opportune contrivances in service of moving events forward, more tropes, more meaningless meandering and not enough focus on plot development, and overly descriptive gore. It certainly doesn’t help that the skip feature often doesn’t consistently skip stuff you’ve already read, so there’s a lot of just sitting there and monitoring manual skips to get to the next new section. I'm kind of in disbelief at just how tonally different this one is in so many ways despite looking a lot like the original at a basic level. I can definitely see how other people are okay with or like the kind of stuff I'm not feeling, but it's just not really what I wanted out of SG0 after the original.
 
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Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
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I forgot to spam post here, but the Visual Novel Book Club for Spooktober 2019 is up:


This month we aren't reading a specific VN, and instead you get to pick any spooky/horror visual novel that you'd like and talk about that. I have included a selection of free and paid visual novels for inspiration.

One of these is The House in Fata Morgana, which is currently 50% off on Steam:



In other news (to me at least), ebi-hime is working on a Lovecraftian story:
[Tweet 1]
4/5 routes for my lovecraft-y story done! (and most of the 5th route is done, too)
after entirely too long, the first draft is nearing completion. then the real suffering can begin! ☆

[image attached to tweet shows the text "412,742 words,"]

[Tweet 2]
i wouldn't be surprised if i end up purging about 50-100k words of this monstrosity while editing...
I look forward to seeing her take on the genre after having read Sweetest Monster.



And finally, the Kickstarter for adding voice acting to Heart of the Woods has launched. What's Heart of the Woods, you ask? It's a damn good English-language supernatural, yuri visual novel that launched earlier this year. I highly recommend giving it a read even if the kickstarter doesn't interest you.

 
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NarohDethan

There was a fish in the percolator!
Apr 6, 2019
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For anyone who has completed AI Somnium Files

why could Date and Saito remember things from other story branches? That wasn't actually explained
i took it as a meta narrative about VNs, and that conversation with Ota and Iris about jumping dimensions with you noticing, but you can tell something is off.

also, probably a side effect of using the Psync machine. The collective consciousness and all that.

or maybe it is just a plothole and I’m overthinking it
 

「Echo」

Reaper on Station。
Nov 1, 2018
2,748
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Mt. Whatever
Today when a friend pinged me with the Kara no Shoujo Artwork plastered all over sofmap (advertising the coming HD Edition) it reminded Valve banned KnS2 and Cartafa from Steam. :weary-face:
 

AHA-Lambda

MetaMember
Oct 9, 2018
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Today when a friend pinged me with the Kara no Shoujo Artwork plastered all over sofmap (advertising the coming HD Edition) it reminded Valve banned KnS2 and Cartafa from Steam. :weary-face:
Didn't Kara No Shoujo come out on Steam some months ago?
 

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
1,313
93
Ciconia: When They Cry is out, and for anyone else who is curious, here is a comparison of the length of episode 1 (of 4) with the length of previous 07th Expansion works (spoilered for those who want to go in completely blind):
Ciconia 1 - 186,709 words
Umineko Questions - 603,061 words (31%)
Umineko Answers - 546,675 words (34%)
Higurashi Hou - 463,675 words (40%)
Rose Guns Days - 491,931 words (38%)

Numbers in parentheses show the length of Ciconia relative to a given work.
 
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Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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Oh, just discovered that Eyiu Senki uncensored was released. And is on sale. And I have no more money to buy it :cryblob:
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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They sell a steam patch too. Not pricey if I remember right.
I was completely blindsided as the VN industry takes age to advance projects and I was still on the 'it's worked on' page.

Patch here (NSFW !!!!)
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Wait, is Gold a sequel like I just read on a random website or an upgraded version ? Should I wait ?
 
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Knurek

OG old coot
Oct 16, 2018
2,516
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Ciconia: When They Cry is out, and for anyone else who is curious, here is a comparison of the length of episode 1 (of 4) with the length of previous 07th Expansion works (spoilered for those who want to go in completely blind):
Ciconia 1 - 186,709 words
Umineko Questions - 603,061 words (31%)
Umineko Answers - 546,675 words (34%)
Higurashi Hou - 463,675 words (40%)
Rose Guns Days - 491,931 words (38%)

Numbers in parentheses show the length of Ciconia relative to a given work.
So, costs as much as both Umineko Arcs combined and has 1/3rd of content from each?
 
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Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
878
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So, costs as much as both Umineko Arcs combined and has 1/3rd of content from each?
It's not quite that bad, but the price is still pretty steep.
At least in Euro, the non-discounted price of Ciconia ep. 1 is equal to about two thirds of the non-discounted price of Umineko (Q+A).

It looks like we're paying the same as Japanese customers because of the simultaneous release, on top of the price increase that Ryukishi announced, and VNs are pricey as fuck in Japan.
 

AHA-Lambda

MetaMember
Oct 9, 2018
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An extremely early judgement but after the prologue and first chapter, so far Ciconia isn't leaving a great first impression; likely just the typical slow burn in though.
 

Durante

I <3 Pixels
Oct 21, 2018
4,043
19,505
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I bought Ciconia for its full price mostly because I really got a massive amount of enjoyment out of Higurashi long before there was any reasonable way for me to buy it.
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
7,868
15,896
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One VN that always piqued my curiosity is Dies Irae, but damn, those routes pricing.
 

Myradeer

Rayon de Soleil
Apr 17, 2019
320
498
63
Ciconia - despite all the game analogies - seem more similar to Higurashi rather than Umineko so far, which is something I appreciate. I personally disliked all the meta-magic stuff.
 

AHA-Lambda

MetaMember
Oct 9, 2018
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Ciconia - despite all the game analogies - seem more similar to Higurashi rather than Umineko so far, which is something I appreciate. I personally disliked all the meta-magic stuff.
aww that's why I liked Umineko :(