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FredMSloniker posted:So what life simulators are out there that are good for those of us who don't speak Japanese? Life simulators? Might I recommend The Sims 3 and some expansion packs, and perhaps a preorder for The Sims 4? Not that it pays my bills or anything, no sir. For Japanese-style, some Tokimemo-inspired games that are available in English include Persona 4/Persona 4 Golden for the PS2/PS Vita and Cherry Tree High School Comedy Club on Steam.
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Apr 14, 2014 23:31
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FredMSloniker posted:So what life simulators are out there that are good for those of us who don't speak Japanese? Princess Maker 2 is also floating around. Though it sounds and looks cutesy it has enough wtf moments that you should enjoy it if you have enjoyed reading through this TokiMemo thread, and it's pretty challenging mechanically to pull some of the endings off.
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Apr 14, 2014 23:43
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There's an English patch for Love Plus, I believe, which is discussed earlier in the thread. Also made by Konami, but...... I think it might be a little creepy.
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Apr 15, 2014 00:01
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sincx posted:There's an English patch for Love Plus, I believe, which is discussed earlier in the thread. The first half, which is when you're trying to woo a girl, is painfully boring compared to a TokiMemo and the second half is the kinda creepy part where you actually date the girl.
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Apr 15, 2014 00:08
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FredMSloniker posted:So what life simulators are out there that are good for those of us who don't speak Japanese? Fading Hearts 
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Apr 15, 2014 00:28
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Life Simulation is a genre I really like, so I know Harvest Moon (Link goes to SA thread) is a nice life simulator series that's been around for a long time. As for which one to get, the answer is usually, "the latest one on your favorite system." The Princess Maker series is good, but can get a bit creepy in the fanservice department. Princess Maker 2 was translated to English but never released. There is an archived Let's Play of Princess Maker 2. (If you're patient and adamant about playing, Princess Maker 4 & Princess Maker 5 can be played with a machine translation and a guide for installing the Japanese game and text extractor). Princess Maker 5 also has an In-Progress Fan Translation that is about 84%+ done. For non-creepy Princess Maker type games, Hanako games has Cute Knight Kingdom, as well as Long Live the Queen. Both have demos, and Long Live the Queen currently has a Let's Play that is currently running. Hanako games also has Magical Diary, which is a life-sim with a Harry Potter-esque magic school bent. A Let's Play is currently semi-active here Speaking of Harry Potter-esque magic school life simulation games, there's also Academagia . It's hardcore in-depth simulation game for gamers who really like reading, looking at numbers, and making decisions with a cost-benefit analysis. There is an archived Let's Play, as well. Two very little-known but really good life simulation games with English translation patches are Wonder Project J for the Super Nintendo, and Wonder Project J2 for the Nintendo 64. The theme of the series is raising a robot boy (J) or a robot girl (J2) and teaching them to become a real boy or girl.  That's all I can think of off the top of my head, and let me second the mentions of Persona 3 & 4, and Cherry Tree High School Comedy Club. I also like the Sims 3 and the Sims Medieval, but I personally classify them as a different type of life-sim Catalina fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Apr 15, 2014 |
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Apr 15, 2014 00:46
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FredMSloniker posted:So what life simulators are out there that are good for those of us who don't speak Japanese? Dating Sim + Zaniness and clever concept: Hatoful Boyfriend Girl Protagonist Dating Sim with English Translation: Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom Fun game with dating elements and the best game in the series: Rune Factory 3 Same elements as Rune Factory 3 and I've heard good things about it but haven't played it myself: Sweet Fuse: At Your Side   JUST STRAIGHT UP SEXY AS HELL GET STOKED Starfighter Visual Novel 
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Apr 15, 2014 00:47
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Shira Oka is an English game that is clearly inspired by Tokimemo, although not as good. In particular the early part of the game is extremely miserable for plot reasons, which can put people off. (It put me off, I'm afraid.)
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Apr 15, 2014 00:48
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Hey, he said Life Simulation games. All of my games have numbers in them, thank you very much. 
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Apr 15, 2014 00:52
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SSNeoman posted:Fading Hearts He specifically asked for one that was good, though.
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Apr 15, 2014 00:54
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Jenner posted:Dating Sim + Zaniness and clever concept: Hatoful Boyfriend I don't know about Hatoful Boyfriend, but isn't Hakuoki just a visual novel and not a dating sim? 'Dating Sim' is usually reserved for games where you build stats and whatnot...
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Apr 15, 2014 01:26
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/\/\/\ Hey now, Hatoful technically has stats. Pah! Lemme see what I can dig up with actual numbers and stats the style of Tokimemo. (I like those too, but they seem pretty rare to find translated.) Hakuoki has no stats. I shall begin my search now, I'll try to see what I can cautiously recommend via videos and such as I do not like to put my stamp of approval on crap. Logfile: * Suggested Princess Debut, but Princess Debut does not appear to have stat gaining/raising sim aspects and/or takes forever to get to them so my search continues. * Considered suggesting Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure but it appears to be primarily an RPG. * Summer Session fits the criteria but its art is bad and the writing I saw in the one video I dredged up wasn't particularly endearing. * Loads of searching Tokimemo games on Amazon and following around what other people purchased with them leads me only to games that are also solely in Japanese. *  OH JESUS CHRIST WHAT HAS ALL THIS SEARCHING DONE TO MY AMAZON RECOMMENDATIONS.  * At this point I give up. Things I can confidently recommend: Obviously there is the Persona Series which totally has stats and levels ups and love interests. 
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Apr 15, 2014 01:52
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SSNeoman posted:Fading Hearts That name sounded familiar to me, so I dug back to where I thought I had heard about it.... Canada's Worst Visual Novel "What I didn't know was that I was about to play what can only be described as "The Room" of visual novels." Welp, now I have a new entry on my Steam Wishlist.
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Apr 15, 2014 02:19
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Jenner posted:
Boy howdy, this sure looks like something.
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Apr 15, 2014 03:24
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gegi posted:Shira Oka is an English game that is clearly inspired by Tokimemo, although not as good. In particular the early part of the game is extremely miserable for plot reasons, which can put people off. (It put me off, I'm afraid.) Shira Oka came out on my birthday so I picked it up when it first came out. I ended up finishing it after a while. The beginning really does seem to put you off in how it's explanations go (You're actually *supposed* to lose once or twice). Since starting over doesn't reset stats, you can keep going without failing miserably the second or third time through. This lets you get to know the characters a bit more, see how they interact with you, and you can see the different facades of them before you really start wooing them. The only super awkward thing is how they do "resets" in the game, which, when people really start thinking about it, make the main character mentally older than all of the teenage girls he's dating. ...Which is honestly pretty creepy if you start thinking really deeply about it. Thankfully though it doesn't rely on marriage and truu wuff, (if I recall, none of the endings actually mention "marriage" or anything), and the focus in the game is on how people respond to friendship and how it changes peoples' lives when it's given, and how everyone deserves a friend. So basically it's a lot of anime friendship speeches, done tastefully in a stat raiser type game? I guess? I enjoyed the ending at least?
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Apr 15, 2014 04:12
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Yo if you're into romance games at all you're gonna do yourself a huge disservice if you don't get hype for Christine Love's next thing.
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Apr 15, 2014 04:33
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I'm phone-posting, so no links, unfortunately, but two more to add to the pile (both can also be found on Hanako Games' website): Lucky Rabbit Reflex! is an English dating sim very clearly inspired by the Girl's Side version of this series. Also by English I mean it's probably set in the UK, as that's where the developers are based. You're a high school girl who has transferred in the final year of school. But there's stat raising, girl befriending, guy dating, and a mechanic that's more unique to those games. Spirited Heart is more directly life sim and less dating in the vein of Princess Maker, still very fantasy, and there's a little "dating" but it's definitely not the main objective.
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Apr 15, 2014 04:53
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Catalina posted:For non-creepy Princess Maker type games, Hanako games has Cute Knight Kingdom, as well as Long Live the Queen. Both have demos, and Long Live the Queen currently has a Let's Play that is currently running. Long Live the Queen is rad. It's one of the few games in the genre that I've played and liked, and the only one I've bothered to play through more than once, for whatever that's worth.
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Apr 15, 2014 05:50
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Fading Hearts has a lot of flaws, but I think it's actually worth a try. ...Probably not for very much. One thing I like is that characters will totally lie to you, which a lot of people got ticked on the official forums for, saying it was 'bad writing' and that it showed a complete lack of talent on the writer's part. Because, y'know, a character told you they had one motivation but they really had another. Many of the others mentioned are better, though!
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Apr 15, 2014 06:25
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John Lee posted:Because, y'know, a character told you they had one motivation but they really had another. Really? Was that the reason people were complaining about it?  Not for... ...Y2K orphans? (yes, THAT Y2K) ...Your protagonist receiving daydreams that are  as gently caress? While having relatively little bearing on the plot?...Your protagonist being some orphan super genius? ...Nobody telling you just how much time you should invest in companies to fix their issues? ...Reading manga in a maid cafe literally giving you magic? ...The abuse plotline that has all the subtlety of a nuclear detonation? ...Claire never shutting the gently caress up about Rina? I have one more, but sadly it's a major spoiler. I REALLY want to post it as it is the most  thing.
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Apr 15, 2014 07:55
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vibratingsheep posted:Life simulators? Might I recommend The Sims 3 and some expansion packs, and perhaps a preorder for The Sims 4? Not that it pays my bills or anything, no sir. Anyway, thanks to everyone for your suggestions! If you want to second someone else's suggestion or make one of your own, feel free.
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Apr 15, 2014 08:53
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One thing that I can say about Fading Hearts is that it made me want to write something better involving the mechanisms of unlocking weird daydreams that grant powers. I found that an interesting idea, it just didn't really have much relevance and was kinda silly the way it was executed. I'll admit to buying it, but that was because the stuff I focused on in the demo (those weird flashbacks) made me think it was a different game than it actually was (though the seduction crap didn't really sit well with me, and the abuse subplot indeed was poorly done, and there was indeed some silly stuff). I guess what I'm saying is it had interesting ideas but couldn't really pull them off. Kaja Rainbow fucked around with this message at 09:38 on Apr 15, 2014 |
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Apr 15, 2014 09:35
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There have been some decent suggestions for life simulators in this thread, but the fact is that there aren't many life simulators that really fit into TokiMemo's way of doing things. Games like Persona 3/4 and the Rune Factory series are probably the most fun/approachable out of any of the games mentioned, but that's because these are RPGs at their core where you can also go on dates if you feel like it. There's no time limit to make you plan your schedules carefully in Rune Factory, and while Persona 3 and 4 do have time limits, that affects the RPG portion more than anything--it's pretty easy to pick as many as seven or eight friends that you especially like and hang out with all of them without consequence. These games have enough visual novel elements that they will appeal to TokiMemo fans, but I can't really call them TokiMemo games in good conscience. (Although, just to add a new suggestion to this category, there's also Sakura Wars, which does have one English release. And not to suggest anyone do anything rash, but Conception II is also supposed to come out today  )Weirdly enough, there have been more indie games made in English than there have been Japanese games translated into English that fall into TokiMemo's way of doing things. There are two developers in particular that stand out: Hanako Games and Winter Wolves, specifically the games listed under "simulation" on each site. The issue here is that the simulation portion of these games is simplified compared to TokiMemo, because the emphasis is generally more focused on the story. Winter Wolves in particular has a consistent issue where the winning strategy is "dump all your points into the one stat that corresponds to the boy/girl you wish to date". Also Winter Wolves games in general are kind of dumb. I would recommend pretty much any game from Hanako over any game from Winter Wolves, since Hanako tends to handle both story and gameplay better. Long Live the Princess seems to be a goon favorite in particular, but my issue with it is that it also tells you what points you need to win any particular path and all you have to do to win is reload once you have this information. It's more of a visual novel where you make your story pathway choices through stat distribution rather than... well... just clicking on the choice you want to make. I would personally suggest Magical Diary over that, but I should mention that I haven't tried the Cute Knight series. Hatoful Boyfriend is one of the best things ever and you should play it regardless of your feelings of TokiMemo.  If you want a dating/life simulation game that specifically has TokiMemo's focus on stat resource management with a time limit, these are your main choices: By my understanding, Princess Maker 2 was like TokiMemo in the sense of being influential on the style of life simulation games in Japan. You have a ton of different stats to keep track of, you plan what jobs you want to work in order to raise the stats you want, randomness comes into play in terms of how effective stat raises go at any particular week, and you have to balance all of it without letting stress get too high or running out of money. Like TokiMemo, it requires multiple playthroughs to really fully understand how the game mechanics work. Just keep in mind that Princess Maker 2 basically falls into the same game genre as hentai games from that time period, and it has no qualms about pulling inspiration from the more unsavory aspects of that genre. Shira Oka, again, requires you to keep a weekly schedule in order to raise stats to where you want them, with randomness coming into play. It's probably the most similar to TokiMemo's gameplay and setting out of any of these, with one major exception: The protagonist sucks when you first start the game, and he doesn't stop sucking until you've restarted the game a few times. It's not a matter of you learning game mechanics, it's a matter of the character gradually getting better and better at doing things whenever you restart. In particular, there are certain events that play out (either randomly generated or accessed through getting a particular ending) that make it much easier to raise certain stats on future playthroughs. This in itself is kind of frustrating, but my main problem with this game is how it handles story: While most games would have you gradually learn more about your love interests as you spend more time with them, Shira Oka is filled with standard "let's go ride the rollercoaster" events until you hit the last month of the game, at which point a completely off-the-wall plot element is introduced out of nowhere and the protagonist has to fight zombies with his new girlfriend or something. At least that's what happened in the two endings I got. Although the setting and exact gameplay are a bit different, I think Scheherazade is actually a pretty good introduction to this type of gameplay--at least, it doesn't require the same level of tolerance for awkward story elements that the above two games do. Catalina already mentioned Academagia; Scheherazade is from the same developers, and it has similar gameplay elements, but it isn't NEARLY as complex or obtuse. Basically, the protagonist of Scheherazade is a female Indiana Jones. The gameplay is based on planning your schedule around raising various action-oriented stats so that, by the time you start taking flights to other continents, you are adequately prepared to go spelunking, dodging traps and outmaneuvering hostile ancient spirits in the name of recovering important historical artifacts. And there are hot boys there too!! In short, I have played way too many of these and there are probably some I'm forgetting. I might bring up some more later.
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Apr 15, 2014 11:58
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Since I guess we're using this between time to talk about recommendations I'd like to kind of bring up something I was looking for again. TokiMemo has got me really interested in just (mostly) ordinary high school life dramas and I've been trying to find a good visual novel series in the genre. I've read stuff like Little Busters and Clannad, but those are less high school life and more supernatural dramas in the end. The games that get the most good reviews I see are things like To Heart 2, the Memories Off series and the Da Capo series... but I tried To Heart 2 and I think I only made it through a day or two without getting really bored with reading that particular main character's thoughts. Sheep gave me some good suggestions for other games with sim elements (Bistro Cupid), but what about just normal visual novels? I want stuff that is seriously low-concept. If there's magical/sci-fi BS I want it like TokiMemo where it doesn't actually directly tie in with the main plot. I'm not really expecting the same level of zany hilarity as TokiMemo, but I'd just like some games that can manage to keep me awake in the way To Heart 2 didn't. Since basically 99.9% of PC visual novels are adult, I'd prefer games with console ports or made especially for consoles please. Thanks.
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Apr 15, 2014 12:15
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There are a number of English VNs for PC both adult and non-adult. English VNs for consoles is _extremely_ limited and the best examples are all mind-breaking time travel and vampire samurai and so on. Um... If you don't mind otome there's a wide range of those on phones in English (iphone or android) although many of them will not qualify as 'good'. Most are not high-school based either. I think at least one is, and is themed around a class trip, but I don't know anything else about it. The games out of the mobile range that I know of that aren't too bad are 'Kiss of Revenge' and 'In Your Arms Tonight', but being mobile phone games you buy an individual character's route and play through it rather than playing through the game freely trying to attract different characters. I think Kira*Kira has a mobile phone port somewhere, and that's a VN with a male protagonist which is at least partly set in high school, but I only played the PC version. Or wait, are you looking for Japanese games?
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Apr 15, 2014 12:51
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Getsuya posted:visual novels
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Apr 15, 2014 12:57
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gegi posted:
Yeah, sorry, I was just about to edit that in to my post.
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Apr 15, 2014 13:06
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Getsuya posted:Since basically 99.9% of PC visual novels are adult, I'd prefer games with console ports or made especially for consoles please. Thanks. Honestly the standout examples of PC VNs either let you turn off adult content or don't have it in the first place, at least from what I've seen. Katawa Shoujo is an English-original example of the former and Hatoful Boyfriend a translated example of the latter. (Katawa Shoujo is... considerably more down-to-earth than Hatoful). And as mentioned two posts above, there's a VN megathread on those forums that you can check out.
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Apr 15, 2014 14:51
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Getsuya posted:Yeah, sorry, I was just about to edit that in to my post. At that point all my recs are third-hand or worse, but I'll throw a random attempt at you anyway just in case - The Pet Girl of Sakura Dormitory? Console, no sexual content, no big supernatural drama that I can see, school setting, wacky hijinks, appears to be well-received...
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Apr 15, 2014 16:21
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Wanton Spoon posted:Although, just to add a new suggestion to this category, there's also Sakura Wars, which does have one English release.) Sadly, the one in English is the fifth entry in the series, and the original Sakura Wars will never, EVER be as funny as Spirit Armor's legendarily long-lived LP of it. Also I will totally be picking up Conception II as soon as the loving eShop bothers to update today. I definitely do not recommend any of you follow me into the breach.
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Apr 15, 2014 16:23
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Raitzeno posted:Sadly, the one in English is the fifth entry in the series, and the original Sakura Wars will never, EVER be as funny as Spirit Armor's legendarily long-lived LP of it. Even more sadly, the fifth entry in the series is godawful compared to the first three. A bunch of staff left in the middle of development (which is why Ratchet and Gemini look so different from the rest of the cast)
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Apr 15, 2014 16:42
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vibratingsheep posted:Even more sadly, the fifth entry in the series is godawful compared to the first three. 'Godawful' seems unnecessarily harsh. I'm enjoying the heck out of it, anyway.
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Apr 15, 2014 17:11
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Confused Llama posted:'Godawful' seems unnecessarily harsh. I'm enjoying the heck out of it, anyway. It's an old bias, tainted by the horrid, bitter taste of Sakura Taisen 4.
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Apr 15, 2014 17:46
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I was just playing Academagia and I got expelled for, apparently, having too many items in my backpack. What.
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Apr 15, 2014 19:07
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Getsuya posted:Since I guess we're using this between time to talk about recommendations I'd like to kind of bring up something I was looking for again. TokiMemo has got me really interested in just (mostly) ordinary high school life dramas and I've been trying to find a good visual novel series in the genre. I've read stuff like Little Busters and Clannad, but those are less high school life and more supernatural dramas in the end. The games that get the most good reviews I see are things like To Heart 2, the Memories Off series and the Da Capo series... but I tried To Heart 2 and I think I only made it through a day or two without getting really bored with reading that particular main character's thoughts. Console VNs are really not that common, especially slice of life console ones. Have you tried Brass Restoration? It has no sexual content, has an English patch, and is available absolutely free.
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Apr 15, 2014 20:05
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Canuck-Errant posted:I was just playing Academagia and I got expelled for, apparently, having too many items in my backpack. What. Too many Illegal items.  http://academagia.wikia.com/wiki/Concealment The game can be confusing and obtuse at times; I recommend using the wiki when you're confused by something. Especially game mechanics, hoo boy. llegal items - or, within the context of the school proper, any items, that could irritate a teacher - require a certain amount of effort to achieve Concealment. The higher the Concealability rating of an item, the more likely your possession will be discovered. If its Concealability rating is lower than or equal to your Finesse, the item may be safely hidden Discussion > Games > Let's Play! > Let's Play Tokimeki Memorial 2: Life Sim Game Discussion Megathread.
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Apr 15, 2014 20:58
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Hellioning posted:Console VNs are really not that common, especially slice of life console ones. Have you tried Brass Restoration? It has no sexual content, has an English patch, and is available absolutely free. These days, the vast majority of Japanese "console" VNs get shovelwared straight onto the PSP/PS Vita. Most of the time, they'll have some kind of light novel license. I cannot recommend any of these in good conscience. Catalina posted:Discussion > Games > Let's Play! > Let's Play Tokimeki Memorial 2: Life Sim Game Discussion Megathread. Look, if I can play Bistro Cupid in here, anything goes. Especially during intermission.
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Apr 15, 2014 21:19
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vibratingsheep posted:These days, the vast majority of Japanese "console" VNs get shovelwared straight onto the PSP/PS Vita. Most of the time, they'll have some kind of light novel license. I cannot recommend any of these in good conscience. I don't see why being put on the PSP/V should make a VN shovelware-- after all, it's much the same idea as bringing a book to read on the train or something. Light novel VNs are mostly trash, sure, but then you've also got remakes of many good PC VNs right along there with them.
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Apr 15, 2014 21:38
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Son Ryo posted:I don't see why being put on the PSP/V should make a VN shovelware-- after all, it's much the same idea as bringing a book to read on the train or something. Light novel VNs are mostly trash, sure, but then you've also got remakes of many good PC VNs right along there with them. It's not that they're on the Portable or the Vita that makes them shovelware, it's that they're little fan service vehicles that serve to make an extra few bucks off of light novel fans that make them shovelware. Remaking PC games on PSP/Vita isn't so bad, but I don't consider those to be console games.
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Apr 15, 2014 22:06
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vibratingsheep posted:It's not that they're on the Portable or the Vita that makes them shovelware, it's that they're little fan service vehicles that serve to make an extra few bucks off of light novel fans that make them shovelware. Remaking PC games on PSP/Vita isn't so bad, but I don't consider those to be console games. The only real big exclusive PSP VNs I can think of are Hakuisei Renai Shoukogun (White Robe Love Syndrome), which was actually a really amazing game that gives a realistic look into the world of Japanese nurses (its creation was overseen by actual Japanese nurses, and they had to include a glossary of medical terms just to make it readable), as well as the Hayarigami Trilogy of horror anthologies. Oh and of course we can't forget the Disgaea VN (or can we?) That said, even if the LN VNs are fanservice, they're pretty good fanservice for the most part. Almost all of them are written (at least in part) by the original creators of the work, so it's more like reading an actual side-story from the novels and less like something someone else slapped together. At least that's what my LN-fan friends say. I don't care for any of the titles that've gotten PSP games so I can't really say for myself.
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Apr 15, 2014 22:51
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