Visual Novels

[Apolloncrash]

[Kimiko]

Oh, I didn't know Uchikoshi was also one of the writers of Ever17. That would explain similarities between that and the Zero Escape series.

Speaking of Ever17, if I want to play that, which version should I pick? And do I need to play the other games in the series too, or are they not related very much?

[Maxine MagicFox]

@Kimiko: I heard they made an Xbox version with 3d model graphics... I saw screens and wasn't impressed (actually it reminded me a bit of the difference between 999 and VLR ^_^; )

As for the 'other games in the series' - I'm assuming you're refering to games like Never7 and Remember11, I hear that there are small connection ties and Ever17 even references some things in an end game timeline. However when I was playing Remember11, even though I did not complete it, I did not pick up any ties to the other two - however I have heard they are all in the same universe.

I have never played Never7 and only half finished Remember11. I had no problems following Ever17 and my god it's drool worthy. There are slow moments, yes, but it's so delicious in the end.

[Kimiko]

So, I've been catching up on my VN backlog. I played 's Jisei, Kansei and Yousei, and I'm totally hooked on this series. At first I thought that it was a trilogy and Yousei would reveal the backstory, but it turns out the series is planned to be five games long. ;_; So many secrets teased, and now I have to wait maybe years before everything is resolved.
I would still recommend these games though. They're pretty good paranormal murder mysteries.

I also played some small free VNs from their website. Ripples is just a linear story, nothing much. [Text] is also short, but it has seven different endings. A fun diversion.

At the moment I'm playing Café 0 ~The Drowned Mermaid~, which I'm not sure I like much. The story is just weird and not much fun. I only got a/the bad end so far though, so I guess I'll give it another go.

After that I have Dysfunctional Systems. No idea what that'll be like.

[Kimiko]

Café 0 was so-so. It took two tries before I understood how the game works. You have to be consistent in your choices or you just get the same bad end which doesn't answer anything. After seeing the four normal ends you can use the items you collected to get the true end. After all the story wasn't great, and the art and translation (it's originally Japanese) were a little off too.

Then Dysfunctional Systems Episode 1 was pretty cool. Nice art and interface, and an intriguing world. My only complaint would be that there was only one choice of importance, leading to two ends. I was expecting at least a third end, and had started a third time, when I read that there are only two, so I'd already seen everything. Apparently the creators () have done a KickStarter project so they can make two more episodes. Episode 2 should be out around mid-2014 according to the website, but nothing yet. Maybe that was old info.

I also played their Juniper's Knot, which was a no-choices-linear sweet little story.

[Kimiko]

That is cake?

[Etrian Veteran]

looks more like pudding than cake, but it looks pretty good anyway

[Kimiko]

I'm sure it was tasty.

[Maxine MagicFox]

Ok, so I totally had a weird moment.

I uninstalled Ever17, made sure to delete all the save files and the folder and everything. I wanted a fresh, unlocked game. Didn't even want the cgi's and stuff.

Then I reinstalled it with my game discs. Roughly a half hour's worth of work.

Then I play the game for maybe a half hour before I go to bed. Didn't even make it through the prologue. Saved and called it a night.

Started it up tonight and opened the save file and realized... I'm... not where I should be. Somehow my save file is way later in the game. Go back to the menu and realize all the cg's are back. Close and open the file location and o_o everything is back...

EVERYTHING...

And the save file from the other night is missing.

Holy shit, I'm weirded out. Like, I don't even know. Like, I could understand it a little more if at least my save file was there in existence, I would just be like "well... maybe something remained that brought the old stuff back" but my save file is just like it never existed. What. The. Hell.

Did Ever17 just get Ever17'd?!! Parallel Dimensions at work or something?!

[Kimiko]

Hi parallel!Maxine Welcome to ItL

[Maxine MagicFox]

-I wish I had a friend that had the capabilities of doing this.
-not eliminating just yet
-I generally don't forget when it's an hour's worth of work
-It's an '05 game whose translation company tanked and I bought off of ebay four years ago. Yeah, you do the the math here


It's so weird. I went into the (returned) save files and everything is dated 1/15 which is definitely the date that I uninstalled and reinstalled. So I know I'm not mental and that I didn't just not delete these somehow. The last time I played the game was like back in august. Went through everything else and only the setup.exe and the shortcut icon are dated different (10/25/05) while everything else is 1/15.

So, I DUNNO. I dunno if the code wrote something in some system file somewhere and stores data somewhere else or something weird. ... I'm so confused right now.

I do recall that the actual uninstall was an accident - I was trying to just see if there was a certain file I could delete that would reset everything without having to reinstall and it failed horribly. So I wonder about what option I picked when I accidentally uninstalled. I wonder if my computer created a weird backup file.

[Dr. Joe]

I'm kinda new to the realm of visual novels (as I am in many things). Since I'm a literature enthusiast, I usually prefer novels over comics or light novels. Visual novels interest me, though. Has anybody heard of Wintertale?

I on Google Play and though it's really simple, with a kinda "meh" story, and though it has no multiple paths, I really liked the atmosphere of it. And the music is wonderful. It's actually Russian, apparently. "Team Eroge" doesn't seem to have done much...

I've also toyed with the idea of turning my erotica e-book I've recently published into a paid app visual novel, if the e-book ends up selling enough. I know some artists that could help, though I'd have to learn how to create the game itself. Quite an interesting little niche; I'd love to find more slice-of-life, cozy VN's.

[Maxine MagicFox]

If you are looking for slice of life I would highly recommend any and all Key novels for you.

Kanon
Clannad
Little Busters (this, yes, this one especially)

If you are looking for a simple tale that is an emotional rollercoaster ride:
Narcissu 1+2 (it's even on Steam http://store.steampowered.com/app/264380/) oh and guess what, it's free.
I seriously cannot support this game enough.

Also True Remembrance, another freebie, and so adorable as hell with a great story http://trueremembrance.insani.org/
Actually that site has been around for a long time, I hope the game is still around, too. Lemme know if you are interested and it's not working for you. I'm sure I can arrange something.


As for me, I'm getting that itch to play a visual novel again. I have Clannad on my computer, but I hear they are working their ass off on a very nice translation so I'm actually putting it off picking that one back up.

Instead I created a mangagamer account and am debating on what I want. Eden is on sale (which prompted me) but... I'm thinking of also purchasing ef.

[Dr. Joe]

Well wow, thanks for all the recommendations! I'll definitely check some of these out.

(I think I've tried Narcissu before but couldn't get into it, but would be willing to try again)

[Maxine MagicFox]