What VN are you playing? What do you think about it?

... Wow. Baldr Sky Zero 2. I cannot fucking believe that Edward is:



EDIT: FINALLY finished Baldr Sky Zero 2 so I can move onto Rance 9. Before that, let me talk a little (really, just a little) about this VN.

First, the true end is... not as satisfying as Baldr Sky's true end, but then again the overall quality was already weaker in the first place, so there's no surprise.

Next, it supposedly ties up to the beginning of Baldr Sky, but there are still a few things that were somewhat unexplained. One of the most obvious ones would be:

Just where the hell are Schole when all hell broke loose in Baldr Sky?? It did NOT make sense that we did not see any of them in Baldr Sky, even if Edward was mentioned a couple of times but never showed up. The point is, Schole is an insanely powerful group in Fenrir. Altogether they were probably stronger than the main team itself because they had several new additions who I shall not name, but just know that they're among the top 10 wanted Simulacra.

Edward himself is among the absolute best warriors in the game. That he did not show up once in the original series to help Kou - not to mention he literally is equally, if not more important - THE key - than Kou himself - is ridiculous. I just can't help but they plan to do another fan disk explaining their unusual absence from the main series - I was completely expecting a bad end where everybody died or something, but this is the complete opposite (in hindsight I do expect this, but) and just did not make sense.

Like really, mobilize the entire Schole force and you can see them murder nearly hundred thousands of enemies. Victor himself could already slaughter thousands on his own with minimal injuries, like REALLY. Where the HELL are they? As epic as Baldr Sky is, the crisis shouldn't even bloody exist in the first place with that kind of insane fire power.

Well I'm still working on BSZ2 (decided that Rance 9 was more important), but from my experience in BSZ2 and BSZ I came to the conclusion that BSZ series was never intended for BS in the beginning (consider Dream X and it's coverage of Kou's mercenary days) and probably would have had a much better time if it wasn't licensed under the name Baldr Sky since there are few connections to the game despite calling itself a prequel.

Actually Ed as mentioned a few times in Baldr Sky, and one of the minor villains in Baldr Sky Zero became a major villain in Baldr Sky. Ed's name was mentioned mostly by him, as he asked Kou where is his nemesis is.

So I think the author did have Baldr Sky Zero in mind, just not this big. I also feel like they're going to do a fan disc or something, because as I've mentioned before, it made no bloody sense the Schole did not show up in the original story at all. Like, Kou went to help Edward so many times in Zero, so why the hell Edward didn't show up to help Kou in the original? -_-"

After a while of consideration, I've decided to just do it. Play the Baldr Sky series. It's only to be expected, or rather, inevitable that one would come to play this series. I've completed one masterpiece and now I shall play and complete another.

Speaking of a masterpiece, I have actually just recently finished fully reading Subarashiki Hibi. Read it from the very beginning until the very end. This is how it was due to this little "system" where me and my friend go back-and-forth with random (sort of hand-picked in that regard) VN recommendations. So I had been reading several other, well, "moege's" (nothing of worth but I still find at least some entertainment value in it) in the meantime.

From what I understand, Subahibi is seemingly targeted at a niche audience, as there are people who either completely hated it or loved it to such an extent and practically would build a shrine to worship-- *ahem*

Guess I'm the latter because I find a story like this is so utterly genius. Seriously, the writer (Sca-ji) put such an INSANE amount of thought into this VN that it really boggles my mind. And of course the story boggled my mind too as well after finishing it, and since then I've been developing lots of analysis and theories, coming to further mindblowing realizations. Other than just thinking value, I thought Subahibi had quite exceptional emotional value. Some parts really made me tear up and other parts left me in shock and awe (yeah...). Of course, I take into account that I could just be oversensitive. >_> There were just so many intricacies with the emotions and relations throughout... And also, that theme!

Even on the more aesthetic side of things Subahibi seems to do extremely well. Most of the music (Yoru no Himawari OMG) just so perfectly fits the atmosphere and the art is unique and picturesque. Both convey the proper feeling that sets the atmosphere and complements the story so damn well it's crazy.

Now while there are quite a lot of flaws in Subahibi (Structure and pacing issues, H-scenes too long, not all characters are voiced, etc.), they are rather minor to me. Simply because Subahibi completely fits the "ideal VN" that I have an idea/image of. It changed my way of thinking just after reading it and the works that were referenced in it. For me (and probably some others here?), Subarashiki Hibi might just be the #1 masterpiece.

Played PrettyxCation while doing Rance IX.
First and foremost all of Hibikiworks VNs are purely character driven. If you can't love the characters in their VNs, you can't like the VN since it's pure romance, non-conflict, boy meets girl VN, and it's more erotic to begin with.

So what do I think of PxC...I Can't love it. For the sole reason it's not Izzuki Tasuku doing the characters. That's pretty much it. And the characters are too visually similar to each other.

What do I mean by that? Putting aside personality, there's little variation to the characters. There are 4 characters.
-3 are dark haired
-3 has the same average height
-Heck, 2 of them are sisters.

When you compare that to the heroines of LovelyxCation series it's staggeringly different.

I'm assuming that most of the above has to do with Ed's true identity, which I haven't gotten to yet. If he kept his alias as Ed in Baldr Sky then I probably missed the nemesis call out from Father Gregory? It was Father Gregory right?

Mostly my comments were angled towards gameplay since that was one of the defining features for me in the Baldr Sky series, otherwise my experience in Baldr Sky Zero 2 is pretty minimal since I'm finding difficulty fitting it on my platter with Rance IX.

I probably need to clear Baldr Sky Zero 2 and then come back to this later, because the information I have now is clearly insufficient.

Steins;Gate. Translation's a bit iffy here and there. They reference Chaos;Head in the early stages in the game but you have to listen for them, like "Shippu Jinrai Knighthart" being replaced in text with Nidthardt der Blitzsnelle.

Story wise, absolute fucking gold. Bawled my eyes out after Mayuri's ending.

"Nothing's changed from my life, and yet, this is my utopia."

Yes, it was Father Gregory. I remember very specifically that Ed was mentioned a couple of times in Sky, but thought that it was my own misunderstanding of the language and ignored it completely. I suppose it's not spoilers since you've already played Zero and Sky, but:

I'm working on getting through a few visual novels at the moment.

Boob Wars is simple but it has really good art and a fun card style battle system.

Discipline is great. Just got to the first of hopefully many Reina sex scenes, and it was amazing.

Double Phase is pretty much straight up sex scenes between two lolis who are twins. Need I say more?

Dustmania Grotesque is guro, which I'm not into, but the first few scenes are incredible.

Eroge! Sex and Games Makes Sexy Games is amazing art and really likeable female characters. It's a lot of fun.

Captive Market has a female elf soldier who is a total badass, and you really feel guilty when the main character does stuff to her. This and Taimanin Asagi have such great voice acting and sex scenes that I haven't gotten very far in either one for... obvious reasons.

So yeah, i'm more into straight up eroge when it comes to VNs. Though Yume Miru Kusuri has been great so far and I'm not even into the h scenes in that one.

I saw some people talking about Rewrite: Harvest Festa in here somewhere, does anyone know if it's translated or not?

Apparently Amaterasu translations is working on that, so it's not finished and cursory poking around shows no partial patch either.

UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH I just realized from a Japanese blog that I DIDN'T CLEAR THE TRUE END FOR MALELU, BECAUSE YOU NEED TO GO THROUGH HER ROUTE TWICE! GGGGGGGGGGUUUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Done with Rance IX, I'm not going on to NG++ because the story stops after the routes are cleared and the Rebellion ending is watched again. It's a Rance game, really nothing different besides it's art style: Rance raping as he see's fit, there is a douche that needs beating to death, some fairly touching stories, aggravating secret bosses, heroines getting brutally raped and playing hero for them (or not depending on what floats your boat) and small drops of what could come in future Rance games. I'm totally fine with that seeing as how that's what makes a Rance game as enjoyable as it is.

Currently playing Umineko no naku koro ni(the HD remake), 3rd chapter in. Liking the atmosphere so far, and the character cast, while rather huge, is colourful and interesting. After watching some of the train wreck of an anime, this was a pleasant surprise. Not much more to say really since I'm still so early in.

BSZ2, no translator. I got sick of the bullcock protection they put in BSZ2 to make life infuriating and just decided to lean more heavily on interpretation. Relying on audio only which means Edward is going to play the role of the mute protagonist after all. I found a genuine combo in the game and it works pretty well.

Majikoi and it's Awesome!

I'm back... after a week of holiday (hell) in China...

Still working on Katawa Shoujo...one day I'll beat it. one day.

Right now im playing a reapers kiss tastes like farewell and dra+koi .

The first is actually enjoyable, and a fun read, if not a little wordy, and Dra+Koi is absolute shit.

Personally I didn't really like Shinikiss, after my initial foray into it I've pushed it down the list, stopping somewhere near the H-scene.


Dra+Koi is good, don't take it seriously and understand it's quality as a shorty is damn good.

BsZ2