Community The Visual Novel Council | All Choices Lead To Here

skLaFarebear

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Dec 4, 2019
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It looks like Alicesoft has gotten an official English twitter account (followed by the official Japanese account):

Not much on it yet, but it may hint at more English releases from that company and hopefully more than just Rance.
Their first tweet looks like a tease for an english release of Evinicle 2. I guess they're going to self localize/publish it?

Despite a couple of those scenes the game itself was pretty enjoyable.

Waiting for Photonmelodies to release before playing Photonflowers. I want to binge them both.
Might take off work the first week in August to play this and MBON considering they drop on the same day.

For reference, Photonflowers took me about 20 hours to read through and I consider myself a fairly slow reader. A normal person can finish it in about 15-17 hours probably.
 
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GhostTrick

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Oct 20, 2018
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Their first tweet looks like a tease for an english release of Evinicle 2. I guess they're going to self localize/publish it?

Despite a couple of those scenes the game itself was pretty enjoyable.



Might take off work the first week in August to play this and MBON considering they drop on the same day.

For reference, Photonflowers took me about 20 hours to read through and I consider myself a fairly slow reader. A normal person can finish it in about 15-17 hours probably.
I have an important exam scheduled for September, which means no gaming in July/August. After that though, I'm planning to go through both titles. Maybe I'll re-read the trilogy too.
 

Snakethesniper

Time Traveler
Jan 11, 2019
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Finished Episode 4 of Umineko Questions Arc, still need to read the tea room and ??? parts. Can't wait to see how the Answer part evolves.
About ep4:
it was very fun to read, all the anime-style battles and jokes! One thing that left me a little bit perplexed is how they introduced ANGE-BEATRICE and the blue writing at the beginning and then only used them in the very end. Apart from the "real life 12 years later" part of Ange, the ANGE-BEATRICE in the smoking room was never used until the end.They said all the things in the beginning with having a different perspective etc. Even the fact that Battler wasn't sure about her wasn't used, since there were no "questions" part during this game. And i kind of chuckled when in the end battler is like "ah yes, there was Gretel too" like everyone had forgotten about that.
 

skLaFarebear

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Dec 4, 2019
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I have an important exam scheduled for September, which means no gaming in July/August. After that though, I'm planning to go through both titles. Maybe I'll re-read the trilogy too.
Fair. I'm also planning on re-reading the trilogy soon. Was thinking about doing it before Photonmelodies but honestly I ain't young anymore and don't really have time to binge VNs like I did when I beat the trilogy in less than a month back when I was on winter break in college. Think I might try to do it before TDA drops though, at the least Extra and Unlimited.
 

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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[MEDIA=twitter]1282781851094904832[/MEDIA]

[MEDIA=twitter]1282783106949406721[/MEDIA]

[MEDIA=twitter]1282785623213056001[/MEDIA]
Interesting that they are self-publishing this title.
I guess that the success of Evenicle on Steam (500+ reviews) convinced them to take the platform seriously.
Hopefully they are up for the task.
 

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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SukeSparo is the dev of The Expression Amrilato
[MEDIA=twitter]1282794206285578240[/MEDIA]
Apparently this was also confirmed for PC last month, which I somehow missed:

The summary sounds interesting, so I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this.
Hopefully Valve won't give them trouble this time around.
 
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Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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Fruitbat Factory has just released episode 1 and 2 of Jiangshi x Daoshi for free on Itch and Steam:


It looks pretty interesting, and apparently episode 3 will features "a giant baby", which I take as a sign of quality.


ETA:
Apparently the Itch version is "very spicy", while the Steam version is less "spicy".
This is probably due to Valve initially having rejected this title, forcing Fruitbat to make changes to the Steam version.
 
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ZKenir

❀ Child of Raikou ❀
May 10, 2019
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guess someone will make a patch to spice the steam version up.
Btw the editor was garejei


edit: actually they made a patch for that, link will be available on their blog
 
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ZKenir

❀ Child of Raikou ❀
May 10, 2019
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I really liked it back then, i'm still sad for kajiri kamui kagura probably never coming over....

A shame for Pantheon as well, even if it'd never have been translated I was curious to see what it was about.


 
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ZKenir

❀ Child of Raikou ❀
May 10, 2019
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The funny thing about playing Dies Irae again is that since this game has no cloud saves it has been reset to a clean state so I'm literally reading it all again.

I admit that when the intro started and I couldn't skip it took a moment to realize what was going on.

edit: this is not bad though
 
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Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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Necrobarista is out now:


This VN has had a rocky launch:

They started out by screwing over those of their backers that had paid for a DRM free copy, by releasing only on Steam ( source):
Your reward level is "$20 Digital itch.io Copy", we have sent the activation code for "White Wings" Steam below, please confirm.

To prevent copying and spreading of pirated versions, the itch.io and drm-free versions are replaced by the Steam version. We are very sorry. Please let us know if you have any questions, thank you."

Would have been nice to know that at any point before the game shipped! I really don't want a Steam key.

If this was in an update before and I missed it, sorry - my bad. But I'm not seeing it, and it's pretty annoying that you'd just unilaterally decide that you no longer want to support the platform on which I backed.

Then it launched, and it became apparent that at least one of the localizations, the German one, was badly machine-translated from the English translation:

Then, on July 19th, the developers posted that they would be taking down the game from Steam to do a re-translation (see backer-only update #24 on Kickstarter):
Due to the problem of English translation, we plan to remove the game from Steam.

Hello everyone. Due to the problem of English translation, we plan to remove the game from Steam.

The game will be translated and represented by JAST or Sekai Project. Thank you for your continued support.

If the publisher accepts it, we will resend a new Steam store page activation code. Thank you.

However, the completion of the game translation may take more time.

I hope you are satisfied with it.

Best regards,

pureworks

This seems to have caused this tweet by Dovac of Sekai Project, denying any involvement with White Wings:
Just a PSA, I saw that a certain developer recently posted that my company is working on a localization project for them. That's 100% false. We are not working with them in any capacity.

I'm not naming them unless they continue to post false statements.

Thanks for reading.

The next Kickstarter update (backer-only update #25) claimed that the White Wings developers had reached an agreement with JAST:
JAST has agreed to help us translate "White Wings" and republish it on Steam.

Hello everyone. JAST has agreed to help us translate "White Wings" and republish it on Steam.

However, the share of sales is slightly higher. We are considering whether to cooperate.

Thank you for your continued support.

Best regards,

pureworks
However, this was explicitly denied by a JAST staff member on their public discord server.

In addition, there appears to be evidence (A and B) that "pureworks", the studio behind the game is not Japanese, possibly being Chinese based, despite explicitly claiming to be Japanese in their marketing material. The company also nuked their twitter account recently (Google cache), which raises even more questions.

And to cap it all off, the comments I am seeing on various discords and elsewhere suggests that it is also not very good.
 

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
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I was wondering what that was about, oh well... looks like a mess
I kinda regret not backing it for a dollar.
I'm currently getting the backer-only updates second-hand, but I'd love to see what's going on in the comment sections.
 

tetel

MetaMember
Jan 7, 2020
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Really enjoying Necrobarista so far, unfortunately now I'm stuck at infinite loading screen so that's that. Writing is pretty good, although the humor is kinda hit and miss for me (haven't really seen much of the heavier themes so far), Maddie (MC) is great and so is the audiovisual presentation. The only bigger issue is that performance is all over the place, especially when the game allows you to walk around the place - the framerate can drop from ~144 to 40-60.
 
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Kvik

Crossbell City Councillor
Dec 6, 2018
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Downunder.
WTF Steam. :dana_tense:

That is fucked up. Meanwhile hentai puzzle copypasta games are allowed to proliferate without issues.
 

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
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Note that both DLCs are still up (for now!), so if you care about getting those on Steam then now is probably the last chance to get them:


 

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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It should also be noted that Bokuten is available still on the MangaGamer Discord store, if anyone is looking to buy the all-ages version:

 

ZKenir

❀ Child of Raikou ❀
May 10, 2019
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I wish steam and GOG had release parity when it came on VN, I'd be willing to swap to GOG but instead whatever they release on GOG seems to be random
 

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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In more positive news, Taisho x Alice episode 2 has gotten a tentative release date on Steam around October:


I wish steam and GOG had release parity when it came on VN, I'd be willing to swap to GOG but instead whatever they release on GOG seems to be random
Unfortunately GOG is GOG, and your chances are probably still better on Steam when it comes to releasing a visual novel.
We might see more publishers releasing their games on Itch, since they are incredibly lenient, but both it and GOG are still vastly smaller markets than Steam.

As someone that doesn't own Bokuten but might eventually, are these DLCs available elsewhere?
Both of them are also available on MangaGamer.com:
 
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ZKenir

❀ Child of Raikou ❀
May 10, 2019
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Unfortunately GOG is GOG, and your chances are probably still better on Steam when it comes to releasing a visual novel.
We might see more publishers releasing their games on Itch, since they are incredibly lenient, but both it and GOG are still vastly smaller markets than Steam.
Yeah I know it's just weird seeing some games release on both, some don't, some are discord and steam
 

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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So it turns out that the Steam version of Bokuten did contain 18+ content, in the form of CGs and thumbnails not accessible in-game.
The CGs were in a file that was not touched by the 18+ patch, so there can be no question about them being on Steam, exactly as Valve said in this article.

An update was pushed a few hours ago that fixes that, which is also the first time I remember seeing a banned game get updated.
Maybe MangaGamer is working with Valve to resolve the situation? One can only hope.
 
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Kvik

Crossbell City Councillor
Dec 6, 2018
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Downunder.
Well if that's the case, then it's a fuck-up on MG's part. Obviously for them to be 100% in the clear, the adult content CGs shouldn't even be in the repo in the first place.
 

ZKenir

❀ Child of Raikou ❀
May 10, 2019
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MangaGamer:

Room No. 9 launches next Thursday on MangaGamer store and Steam (10% discount pre order on MG)

Other titles:
  • Sona-Nyl of the Violet Shadows: 100% translated and 100% edited. "Refrain" bonus content 76% translated.
  • Rance Quest Magnum: Wrapping up beta
  • Rance 02: Out of beta
  • Fxxx Me Royally!! Horny Magical Princess: Now in beta
  • MUSICUS, AKA Secret Project #1: 100% translated and edited. Image editing in progress


---------------------------------------------------------
Nekonyan:

  • Hello Lady! -Superior Entelecheia- Translation & Edit 100% QA 50% Engine work still in progress by the dev.
  • Riddle Joker 90% Translated, 90% Edited QA 35%
  • Kinkoi: Golden Loveriche 85% Translated, 45% Editing Engine port to Unity in progress - playable test version soon!
  • IxShe Tell 100% Translated, 100% Edited QA 70%
  • Aokana Extra 1 90% Translated, 50% Edited
  • Melty Moment 35% Translated
edit: removed embedded tweet to avoid people clicking on MG website by mistake
 
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Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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Nice set of updates from both MG and NN!
I can't help but be impatient, particularly regarding Sona-Nyl, but there is already so many titles releasing and my backlog keeps growing. I really should just focus on those instead ..


I think it is also won't mentioning that MangaGamer made a statement on the Bokuten situation:
As some of you may be aware, #Bokuten was recently banned on Steam. We're working on resolving this issue, so please keep an eye on our socials as this situation develops. Until then, Bokuten is completely uncut, uncensored, and DRM-free on our website.
Not surprisingly it is a lot less accusatory than the initial statements made by their employees on Twitter, now that MangaGamer's mistakes have come to light. In general, MangaGamer needs to reign in their employees and do their due diligence before attempting to refute Valve in an official capacity. This incident is no doubt going to come back and haunt us the next time a game is removed from Steam, as people will be less inclined to listen to developers or publishers defending themselves.