Community The Visual Novel Council | All Choices Lead To Here

AHA-Lambda

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Oct 9, 2018
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To my understanding it is Werewolf in VN form; kinda like Raging Loop, but with less story and more gameplay, to the point where you have stats that you improve across playthroughs.
Hmmm I feel confused, I don’t think this is what I had in mind
 

「Echo」

鈴鹿御前。
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Does JAST do a survey also?

I'd like to ask for a certain Empress title or two. They kinda skipped over a bit in the jump from Starless to Closed Game. Also last year Sleepless came out... and miss Marie is pretty as ever.




Remember the last time there was a VN related controversy in the US?
Google how the press handled Rapelay and you will see why the pubs prefer to keep a low profile.
Yeah this tbh. If VN pubs were to get too fussy they'd just get dragged through the mud. Kinda a double edged sword.

It's unfortunate and I do wish myself something could be done. It's a great injustice that we get shit like Hitler sex, but no Muramasa or KnS2, etc... 😓
 

ZKenir

❀ Child of Raikou ❀
May 10, 2019
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Nekonyan did a survey last year iirc, I don't remember if JAST did one too
 
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EdwardTivrusky

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Dec 8, 2018
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Hmmm I feel confused, I don’t think this is what I had in mind
It is a VN, it's like Werewolf/Mafia type games but it's in the "Social Deduction" genre. You are on a space ship and there is an imposter who will kill a person during the night. You have to work out who is the imposter in each loop and put them in cryo. Basically the game is a big series of time-loops where the conditions change each time but you learn something new and increase a skill each time giving you the full backstory for the events and characters on the ship with you.

I'd watch a video or two and see if you like it. I was an avid watcher of a streamer when she ran through the series and it made me want to buy the game. I was going to get it on Switch but they announced the PC version so i held off. I bought it earlier today.
 
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AHA-Lambda

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Ok took a longer look at reviews and impressions on Gnosia
Lots of folk not recommending it as a typical VN; I’m surprised it’s on vndb then given how harsh they are

I’m sure the game is good but I don’t think it’s what I’m looking for or expected
 

「Echo」

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Johren loads their VN's with overly-stupid DRM right?


Some people claimed it broke their internet speed when running. Today it came out on Steam and went back up on their own store, they claim it was "last minute licensing issues" lol.

There is an 18+ patch for the Steam version on their website, for $0 you still have to purchase it and make an account, (n)

What a pain in the ass they are.
 

EdwardTivrusky

Good Morning, Weather Hackers!
Dec 8, 2018
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I've heard nothing but trouble from Johren so i've never looked into them. Couldn't even tell you if their games are good.
From what i heard it's a pain to purchase from them, they have a 3 machine activation limit with and you may have to contact support to get a license revoked if you change hardware or your OS or PC goes down. It's like the 90s never left us.

Forums and threads are full of people who tinker with their only machine and hit these walls all the time. I used to do that then i got a machine that i tinkered with and a stable machine i left alone because dealing with licenses etc was a pain.

Some people buy the games to support them but then sail the seas to get a crack to run the games without DRM. I see them mentioned often enough that the VNs must be pretty good but i've never looked. To be honest i have enough to read already. lol.

This may help:
Visual Novels Subreddit - Using Johren DRM
 
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Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
Oct 9, 2018
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Johren is a PITA. But thankfully Shiravune has published all but a couple of the games that I am interested in on Steam as well, so I can usually avoid it.

On top of DRM, their payment methods are poorly implemented. Firstly you need a credit card that supports 2FA, which not everyone has, and then you need to "register" it on the store and you'll need to contact support to remove it again. But then they do this weird thing when you make a payment, where they first reserve the amount to be paid (standard procedure), but then instead of using the reserved amount they make a different transaction for the actual payment. This means that you a) need to have twice the amount of money on your account, and b) will have some amount of money on your account reserved for an indefinite amount of time. Which is just weird. You can now avoid all this by buying credits on another site, but having to do that is obviously ridiculous.

The DRM situation is also ridiculous. The guide EdwardTivrusky linked is written by a Johren fan who doesn't actually know what they are talking about (see e.g. the whole nonsense paragraph about the DRM not being present in the VNs), so skip that.

What's actually the case is that most (but not all) VNs have a discount version of Denuvo, that allows at most three (3) activations keyed to your hardware/software configuration (and it is unclear what triggers a re-activation). If you run out of activations, then you are fucked: The advice from support is to make a new account and buy the game again. You can revoke an activation yourself by running a DRM protected games with a /revoke argument, but details/limitations are unclear, and you're fucked if you forget or lose access to an installation.

That said, I doubt very much that the DRM has had any effect on people's internet connections.

The one redeeming factor is that they frequently run sales on store credits, where you get about $10 worth of credits for $4. So with a bit of patience you can get 60% off on any purchase, on top of any existing discounts.
 
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Cacher

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tetel

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It's out.

Almost done with The Sekimeiya and I'm really impressed with that one - it goes all in on the mystery aspect so everything else (characters other than the main two, quality of the dialogues) can be a bit lackluster but it doesn't really matter considering how good and complex the mystery is. All the QoL thingies (the ability to search the entire script, in-game notes system with summaries of each scene) are there for a reason and it's probably worth using them more than I did. Also the soundtrack is boppin.
 

skLaFarebear

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Dec 4, 2019
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Apparently Cyanotype's script has a bunch of typos, and the menu itself at the top is still somehow untranslated. Idk how you can release the game in this kind of state.

At least according to Meru there will be a patch to address this, though she doesn't know when.
 

「Echo」

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Apparently Cyanotype's script has a bunch of typos, and the menu itself at the top is still somehow untranslated. Idk how you can release the game in this kind of state.

At least according to Meru there will be a patch to address this, though she doesn't know when.
Huh, that's pretty whack considering they even bragged about releasing it early...

I wonder if they accidentally released an old build? But maybe if they are counting on a patch... perhaps not... 😓
 

skLaFarebear

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Huh, that's pretty whack considering they even bragged about releasing it early...

I wonder if they accidentally released an old build? But maybe if they are counting on a patch... perhaps not... 😓
It's possible. It's the editor herself (Meru) that said that a patch will be coming so I'd definitely trust her on that, especially if she's the one who'd already gone back and did the clean up. But it's also very possible that she was only hired for one editing pass and isn't currently working on the title anymore. I obviously can't say for sure since there's a lot of weirdness that comes with projects like these.

Speaking of Meru


Remember yall, there's a big reason why most devs just dodge VN Reddit. and most VN communities in general tbh. Don't let people who don't understand Japanese (and in most cases even English) be the ones who should criticize your work. It you want more proof, the writer behind most Laplacian entries, Ono Wasabi, is doing an AMA on Saturday on the much smaller and less toxic r/vns/
 
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「Echo」

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I don't visit Reddit (unless it comes up in a google search) but saw Meru's tweets also and came to post them lol. What a shame people are such cunts.
 

skLaFarebear

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Digging up more info it looks like the release of Cyanotype on Steam atm is due to poor version control (releasing an earlier version I guess) and that a patch should coming in the next week or so to address the issues. Not the first time this has happened to a game, but still very unfortunate that it did.
 
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Exzyleph

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Note that the AMA takes place in the other VN subreddit, the one that isn't run by a complete headcase.
 

skLaFarebear

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From the AMA

Currently, all we're doing to get Newton and the Apple Tree back up for sale is attempting to contact Sol Press, but we haven't had any response.

The current translated text is the property of Sol Press. In the event that we can't get in contact with them, we would have no choice but to retranslate the game, and we don't have the capacity for that right now.
Goodness, I knew the situation with Sol Press was bad but I didn't think the entirety of their ownership went completely in the dark. What an absolute travesty to all the devs that used them for publishing, at the very least the owner should sell off their translation work back to the companies that used them or other western publishers, so they can actually pay back some of those taxes they evaded and the employees that were never paid their salaries.
 
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「Echo」

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Looks like it is unofficial and is an android port?


RIP. Being unofficial makes me uneasy to trust it. I technically don't mind if I had to play it on Android, but I just dunno if I can trust it... 😓


Fakku ended up buying the company that TL'd a lot of these older games, like Bible Black and Discipline... but Fakku does not sell these titles? It's so weird and unfortunate.
 

「Echo」

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Any of you guys buy from MangaGamer before? It's the only reasonable option for Cartagra and KnS2. Also some older games like Eve Burst Error are there... (Although oddly it is the all ages version?)

But they don't seem to take paypal... And it seems they too have some weird activation DRM?
 

skLaFarebear

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Any of you guys buy from MangaGamer before? It's the only reasonable option for Cartagra and KnS2. Also some older games like Eve Burst Error are there... (Although oddly it is the all ages version?)

But they don't seem to take paypal... And it seems they too have some weird activation DRM?
I've bought plenty of titles from them before.

Yes unfortunately they don't take paypal, but they are a trustworthy site. A very large majority of their titles don't have DRM, especially any of their newer titles, but it's possible some of their very old ones might. I've downloaded and played Cartagra and KnS2 and don't remember either of them having DRM though.
 

Exzyleph

Dark Eroge Lord
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Any of you guys buy from MangaGamer before? It's the only reasonable option for Cartagra and KnS2. Also some older games like Eve Burst Error are there... (Although oddly it is the all ages version?)

But they don't seem to take paypal... And it seems they too have some weird activation DRM?
I've also bought a bunch from MG. Their store is not great, but it works.
AFAIK they no longer have DRM on any of their titles.

You can also pay via Paypal if you contact their support. They'll set you up to buy credits that you can spend on the store.
 

「Echo」

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Thanks guys. I'm gonna contact support ASAP and see about getting Paypal supported i hope. :fingergunsblob:

My bank is super picky about these kinda purchases so that's why I prefer Paypal when i can.

Edit: Alrighty, i've written in to support. Let's hope for the best. 🤞
 
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「Echo」

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Mhm... No word from MG yesterday or today. 😓

I got a nice haul from JAST's Valentine sale tho...



I know it is not too popular of an opinion but... I wish there were more older style games to buy. I really like the 90's and early 2k aesthetic. Nostalgia I guess from growing up with the manga and anime of that time period...

Also since JAST seems to be on good terms with Nitro+, I wish they would rescue Phantom of Inferno...
 

Cacher

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Started playing A Clockwork Ley-Line: The Borderline of Dusk lately. Now in episode 2. This first case is pretty darn funny haha. Still very early so can't say anything, but I really enjoy the dynamics between the three main characters.
 
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Exzyleph

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Neat. Jorhen sucks but eh, I guess the patch should be free at least. Also... I'm kinda iffy on the new artwork, But it's better than losing another 90's game...
It also looks like it'll be pretty damn cheap on launch:
That's on Johren, but IIRC the prices on Steam for Shiravune games tend to follow Johren 1:1.
 
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Kvik

Crossbell City Councillor
Dec 6, 2018
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Downunder.
I'm kinda iffy on the new artwork, But it's better than losing another 90's game...
I had some comparison screenshots somewhere, but I feel the art style in the remake didn't depart too much from the original. But still, the original art style is definitely a part of what makes élf a pioneer back in the day. I would've loved it if the original art is included.




And it's actually pretty cheap too for a 30hr game, I could do a lot worse for $20.
 

sprinkles

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I had some comparison screenshots somewhere, but I feel the art style in the remake didn't depart too much from the original. But still, the original art style is definitely a part of what makes élf a pioneer back in the day. I would've loved it if the original art is included.




And it's actually pretty cheap too for a 30hr game, I could do a lot worse for $20.
Probably not fully voiced, or not voiced at all. Still an ok price.
 

sprinkles

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yeah... I would love for a lot of these remake titles to have Art toggles, even if the price was a forced window mode or lower resolution...
Yeah toggles would be great, but many remakes are more than simple remasters so it is probably hard to put graphic toggles in (totally different engines). I never bothered finishing the YU-NO remake, but with the gorgeous PC98 graphics that would have been different.
 
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Kvik

Crossbell City Councillor
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Downunder.
Evenicle 2 is out~


Sadly Steam release won't happen, but we can piggyback the Demo (which is available on Steam) to use Steam's social features. :keikaku_doori: