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

Yeah, BSZ easily has some of the most awesome characters AND side characters I've seen in a long while.

Although they never did explain why the FUCK Skole did not show up in Baldr Sky, and that still stirs boiling annoyance inside me...

Finished Baldr Sky Zero 2.

Well..I can't say the prequel is a complete wreck but it's still pretty bad. One of the biggest bug bears is poor gameplay design: automatic target switching when engaging enemies flubs up combos, many of the movesets are jerky and unresponsive, enemy variety is lamentable, hitboxes are inaccurate on some moves, the animation quality is horrible, level design is poor, experience curve is poor the list goes on.

So many asspulls that the story telling crapped itself, a majority of moments where a character is in peril a side character suddenly swooped in unannounced to save them or a traitor double crosses the enemy. It's repetitive, predictable and robs many action scenes of their worth before they've even started. Baldr Sky Zero forgets context constantly, many times after something tragic occurs a comedy skit runs or an H-scene occurs which ruins the value of the previous scene. Some scenes drag on too long, the true route dragged on incessantly after building incredible momentum with it's major plot twist and just ruined the end-game rush. On the other hand, BsZ did deliver as a prequel to BS and started prepping for the events of BS which was nice. Many of the characters were genuinely interesting, some were incredibly shallow and cliched but that's the minority. Frankly my problems with the title are critical but BsZ accomplished it's goal as a prequel and it would be a dirty lie to say it didn't have it's moments.

Remember that as a Braindroid, Edward has a second brain chip in his head? Well -



Regarding the gameplay, it IS improved as compared to the first. The maps no longer look repetitive, nor does it forces you to take long loops to god-knows-where (I HATE the huge maps in BSZ 1, since it's sometimes necessary to trigger events and it BUGS OUT). There are actually no noticeable bugs (other than delay in enemy spawn if you slaughter them too quickly) in BSZ2, which is an achievement on its own.

Queen Bee and Rasaya are one of the best bosses in the game. There are maps that FORCES you to switch to Ranged Weapons (I just switch difficulty HAH) because they're designed to fuck with Melee Users. Rocket Launchers and other ranged weapons actually feels necessary and powerful now, whereas in Baldr Sky you just go melee all the way and no one will complain at all.

What's really bad about the game is the decision to force you replaying Marelle's Route again to get precisely 1 ten minute scene discussing about the Singularity. You have no idea how much I want to strangle whoever made that decision - I thought it'll show exactly why Squall never took an active role in the original series, but no...

Yeah BsZ2 gameplay is better than BsZ. Actually I leaned heavily on melee against most bosses, I usually baited an attack then just charged straight in and the outcome would be decided in the next minute. There were only a few situations where I had to soften up the enemy with range that would be the flame-patterned simulacrum with maces who stunlock, Mei who can stack poison wells and the Eiji&Goodman optional boss fight. In BsZ ranged is a lot stronger because most enemies won't dodge ranged attacks, ranged attacks scale better and you can shoot while jumping which dodges most of the dangers in the game. With the exception of better ranged scaling, I feel like deriving it's strength from the inability of the AI to be competent is less than optimal.

But:



The thing is is BS you can skip the combat with a Plug In, and you seriously don't mind playing through it again because it's just a different level of emotional impact. One thing I'd like to quote from a Japanese blogger is that the Squall is just too good, too efficient, too effective. The roller coaster isn't nearly as impressive because the characters themselves aren't too affected in the first place.

I decided to play rance 4 and 5D after finishing 9. 4 was suprisingly decent. The combat was pretty bland but the progression and dungeon crawling was actually somewhat enjoyable for an old rance game. The humour was also there and playing the first game with helman characters like hanty, hubert and freak after 9 definetly worked for me.

Afterwards, I went into 5D with somewhat low expectations so it was okay overall. Shorter game without a ton of depth and with a roulette based dungeon crawling system.. It was a unique setup and not really like anything else I had played before, an experience I have had on multiple occasions with alicesoft, but I didnt find it all that enjoyable. The roulette and autocombat aspects were more of a chore that padded out the story than an actually engaging mechanic I enjoyed interacting with.
However, it was nice to see kopandon and riznas first appearances in the series. The music was also decent. I believe the second one Shade worked on and his tracks always bring something to the rance games I really like. It was one aspect of 9 I found was missing. The music was decent enough in 9 but nothing really new and memorable in it.
Also reading TADAs explaination for the 5D name in the game extras kind of made me alright with the game despite it not being all that. The D is because 5A B and C had to go back to the drawing board for being too ambitious or difficult to work with :D

I now only have kichikuou rance and 4.1 and 4.2 and Ill have completed the series entirely including the remakes. Kichikuou will be my next though I may take a break from the series for a bit. The .1 and 2 games are kind of like short dlcs that together make a game and I cant get them to run on my computer so I may never play them. I know there is the english translated version with a vm set up but even that doesnt work for me for some reason soo meh.

I know what you are saying is true, but it bugs the HELL out of me that everything about Neunzehn is now fuzzy to me. So I'm definitely replaying BS1&2 to make sure I'm on top of things.

On another note Steins;Gate when. A good portion of Fakku community has already leaped on board so give into peer pressure already.

I tried installing the English translated version last night, and when I started the game it says there's a .dll file missing. Was focusing on Transistor for now - I have a LOT of games to go through, you know. Enough to get someone to pay me...

EDIT: What a retarded bug; apparently when the semicolon of the Steins;Gate folder was the reason why I can't start the game. What.

Playing Ayakashibito. Felt kinda...boring. Not hot blooded part yet, I guess?

Finished the Yosuga no Sora anime. Onto the visual novel now

The continuation to Reminiscence is out... Let's hope it's... less of a heart attack. Though given its track record, I shouldn't be surprised if it throws the towel halfway. Again.

EDIT:

Finished Reminiscence:Collect. Apparently when I'm interested in a VN, I devour them as quickly as I devour any book. And if you know me in real life, you'll be shocked at how fast I devour one.

Anyway, this is going to be short since I'm no longer that devoted to writing long arse reviews.

First, as usual Reminiscence:Collect has an extremely well constructed story. I love the negotiations, I love the tensions, and I absolutely love the atmosphere where you use your brain, rather than brawn to win the day. This is probably more faithful towards the direction of the VN, since there are nearly no violence involved at all, and every problem was resolved through the power of intellect. And that's a good thing, considering how shittily they handled actual battle scenes in the original VN (emphasis: one of the most boring shit I've ever read, that's for sure).

In addition, it also wraps up the EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY DISSATISFYING ENDINGS that were present in Reminiscence. No, what I was ranting crazily about Kizuna's route was of course (that son of a mother fucking bitch writer) NOT resolved, and as if baiting you like a rabbit it DARES TO END HER AFTER STORY AS WELL WITH A FUCKI - ah, I'm too tired for this. Anyway, despite a better handled ending - and since it never reveals the:



- my criticism stands - I believe they could have been done much better. Much, much better. Who the hell taught him to write endings? Seriously?

The Professor's ending is less satisfactory. In fact, I'll tell you straight out that it's a pain in the ass to get her true end because you'll be redirected to the bad end until you completed Yamato ending. Did I mention save points don't work, and that you'll have to restart up till that choice? Get a gun, people.

But. All in all, it was an extremely impressive read. I was very satisfied with how they wrapped how - uh, you know, the super-secret-character-I-don't-wanna-spoil - their story, and gave them the happy ending they deserve. I also like the dark implications that if you had followed the Professor end, Daishenji would most likely turn up dead, because it was either her or her political rival, and she was already losing before they even made contact with each other.

Moreover, Daishenji's route did not feel as 'FUCK YOU' as the original series. The ending still felt kind of quick - like, what happen to the world in general after success was not said. At all. - but it wraps up all of the main points beautifully.

Visually, like gawd it's so good. I don't really need to say anymore, but Nozomi is so CUTE! that it's unbelievable. Daishenji would be my second choice, followed by the yandere sister, Rin, professor and finally android. It was excellent; the art no doubt helped the series by a lot.

The voice actors are just as wonderful. Daishenji's voice is like candy to the ears, and I was like ohhhhhhhhhh when art and sound blend together in perfect harmony.

So in conclusion, those who have followed the original Reminiscence story should read this. Be reminded that there are a collection of short stories in the Extra section, so do not miss out on them as well. They're mostly gags, but it makes for a good laugh any time, anywhere.

Mahoutsukai no Yoru. Five seconds in and a Queen has been decapitated with one of it's kittens having it's skull split open and the other split in half. All of which occurred before the eyes of a budding young girl. Oh Nasu <3

Really good sound effects, I had to take off my headphones just to make sure that it wasn't raining outside or the phone wasn't ringing a few times. Art is gorgeous. Good aesthetic qualities thus far.

It will be the best you've seen out of any Visual Novel. Absolutely not a single VN in this world can compare aesthetic wise - it's so fucking rich, I see the future of animes/VNs in it.

Beat Angel Escalayer R is out..woot woot.

So apparently I got a western VN called Sakura Spirit on a whim... that and it was cheap.

Overall, I feel like I got cheated out of 4 hours of my life.

The art was good but that was it.

You never play a VN just for the art.
I honestly think that the worst nukige is still better than Sakura Spirit.