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You're pretty close to the end in terms of action sequences, but as a reminder Mahoyo was originally intended to be an episodic series. I want to say Nasu has alluded to making an anime at some point to finish out the story if/when the next VN never materializes. There's also a relatively beefy (and silly) post-game chapter.
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Mar 25, 2024 13:07
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Ahh, I see! That makes sense, I didn’t remember about it being intended as an episodic thing. It’s a shame it continuing as a VN seems to be less and less likely as time goes on since I’ve been really liking how it pushes the format and VNs are a lot more convenient for me than anime. Very excited about the goofy post-game chapter, though, one of the highlights for me has been that time Aoko thought Sojyuurou joined a con artist cult and went nuclear on them.
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Mar 25, 2024 13:31
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On the off chance anyone here knows: Are Visual Novels big in China? Asking because VNs were really helpful when I was learning Japanese and I was thinking of trying Mandarin for a bit.
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Mar 26, 2024 12:27
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Visual novels are fairly popular in China, there's loads of Chinese VNs on Steam although they don't really get as much traction in this thread as translated Japanese VNs or ones that were originally in English. Probably because there's not many of them with a particularly good English translation (often the best you'll get is 'functional'), but there's no shortage of them and if you're planning to read them in their native language that shouldn't be an issue (aside from the traditional/simplified Chinese split). Hermitage: Strange Case Files is one I've been enjoying. You play as a bookstore manager who can't leave the building for some reason, but keep getting drawn into mysteries of a decidedly paranormal bent. The translation can occasionally be a little stilted, but it's understandable enough, though the English and Chinese versions are different games entirely so you can't switch between languages. Another fairly popular one is Will: A Wonderful World. This one has a pretty neat concept: you wake up with the ability to hear and answer people's prayers, and by rearranging the events in the letters they send to you, you can alter their destinies. This one is available in English and has traditional and simplified Chinese as language options. Knell of St Godhrkar is an indie one that popped up while I was browsing, revolving around multiple characters involved in a murder case. You'll see a bunch of Steam comments complaining about the translation, but those are fairly old and the translation has been significantly improved since then. It's free so you can't really go wrong with giving this one a shot. Oh, and one that got rave reviews even when the English translation was machine-translated garbage was The Chrono Jotter, which recently got an actual proper English translation a few days ago. Highly recommend this one. Inadequately fucked around with this message at 14:11 on Mar 26, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 13:50
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Inadequately posted:Visual novels are fairly popular in China, there's loads of Chinese VNs on Steam although they don't really get as much traction in this thread as translated Japanese VNs or ones that were originally in English. Probably because there's not many of them with a particularly good English translation (often the best you'll get is 'functional'), but there's no shortage of them and if you're planning to read them in their native language that shouldn't be an issue (aside from the traditional/simplified Chinese split). Thanks! Knell and Wonderful World seem like exactly what I was looking for.
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Mar 26, 2024 14:15
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genericnick posted:On the off chance anyone here knows: Are Visual Novels big in China? Asking because VNs were really helpful when I was learning Japanese and I was thinking of trying Mandarin for a bit. Death Trick: Double Blind was made by a chinese team and has a simplified Chinese version. (No negative comments about the English at all) https://store.steampowered.com/app/2254710/Death_Trick_Double_Blind/ In terms of narrative games, the Chinese market is gaga for raising sims of all different kinds, so there's a lot of them. fez_machine fucked around with this message at 15:09 on Mar 26, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 15:06
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genericnick posted:Thanks! Knell and Wonderful World seem like exactly what I was looking for. as someone who did an LP of WILL I will at least warn you that the game does have some pretty gruesome content in it that can blindside you if you aren't careful (the big one being child sexual assault with accompanying illustration for the PC version (something I explicitly cut from the LP bc fuuuuuck that), but there's also a lot of stuff like forced prostitution, some pretty gruesome violence/borderline saw trap poo poo, and a kind of uncomfortable teenager with a crush on her teacher plotline that gets enabled more than it really ought to) I do still really like the VN for its concept and mechanical stuff, but even the devs have kinda agreed that they leaned a little too hard into edgy poo poo lol
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Mar 27, 2024 04:52
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im very excited for chrono rotter. would appreciate more goon reviews
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Mar 27, 2024 12:43
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Just finished Chrono Jotter today. Fascinating little game and extremely hard to describe. Its easy to see why the first translation went so poorly: much of the narrative is intentionally obtuse or unclear from the beginning. Ran Ibuki, the viewpoint character, casually refers to different events and oddities of her past that we're never privy to. She's been trapped in supernatural adventures for a long period of time and the narration takes a sort of pleasure in dropping lines like "Oh, this is just like when I encountered the Eclipse Silkworm or Mr. Blood. Anyway." But the original translation definitely wouldn't have been able to get across the unique emotional tone of the whole piece. The death game gimmick described on the steam page works so well because the cast has so fully adjusted to the murder around them by the time Ran shows up. Death is genuinely a game to them and they struggle to even recognize why someone might be alarmed in their cycle of destruction. In a poor translation, that lack of reaction to their gruesome surroundings could easily get written off as a clumsy writer. The real strength of the game to me was in the weird interpersonal struggles of the cast. Early Chapter 1 spoilers here: Ran's entire motivation is to be reunited with her girlfriend, at the cost of everyone else. So when she finds her girlfriend in the immortal deathloop game, she's immediately thrown for a loop by Ann suffering from 1) amnesia and 2) also perfectly adjusted to the murder games. Ann's intrigued by this relationship from her forgotten past, but she's also quickly unsettled by Ran's neediness and devotional loyalty. Meanwhile, all these other girls are quickly falling for the sopping wet mess that makes up Ran, building this messy cycle of broken hearts. There's a scene where Ann brushes off Ran's tears about the constant murder, while Ann's murderer expressed more sympathy to Ran's adjustment and feelings, that made my brain go absolutely feral. Its such a weird, specific tension and the game pulls it off really well. Long story short, I really liked it. Three mysteries, extremely linear, really interesting to pick through.
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Mar 30, 2024 20:03
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I have ai somnium files on ps and switch. Is it more on the portable side of VNs or the TV side?
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Apr 1, 2024 19:45
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After finishing up DR V3 and Gnosia, I decided to start on my Science Adventures pile and kicked off Chaos;Head Noah last night. I'd like to give my thanks to the folks in previous discussions in this thread who warned about the, uh, particular quirks of the PoV character. Yikes. The setup's interesting, but I'm glad I wasn't blindsided by that aspect.
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Apr 2, 2024 22:47
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Waltzing Along posted:I have ai somnium files on ps and switch. Is it more on the portable side of VNs or the TV side? lmao if you’re not reading VNs in VR with a simulated 700 foot screen, just lmao
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Apr 2, 2024 23:01
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Finished Chaos;Head Noah last night. Don't play Chaos;Head Noah.
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Apr 12, 2024 14:55
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please elaborate, I always hear horror stories about the chaos:head games but lost my save halfway through the second (?) one and really know nothing about them i love hearing about horrible train wreck stories 
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Apr 12, 2024 15:10
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Sure. Spoilering just in case folks did want to play the game (taking a completionist approach to the Science Adventures games or whatnot) and not listen to me ranting about it. At its core, the story concepts that the game wants to handle - about isolation, paranoia, social ostracization, and the power of delusionary thinking - are fine, and could work really well. The presentation values are solid. The serial murders during the game are legitimately disturbing and horrifying (there's one particular bit during an ending route that actually made me feel nauseated). That's all well enough. The problem is the point of view character is absolutely repellent. You spend most of the game dealing with him whining about his circumstances, bitching about "normal" people, espousing the virtue of 2D waifus over 3D girls, hearing about how X scenario reminds him of something from a hentai game/manga, waving his e-peen around in his chosen MMO, trying to make other people take responsibility for his well being, etc, etc. He's disgusting, incredibly passive, and some of the delusions you can (or need) to trigger are just gross. CH;N is an all-ages VN, but more than once it felt like I was playing something that only technically met that criteria because I hadn't downloaded a fan patch to reenable the porny content and the game just kept on skating up towards that line. There's nothing saying that every story needs to focus on a functional and likeable protagonist. It's fine for character growth to take place through the story and for awful people to mature and grow. CH;N just doesn't really do it, and in the few pieces of endgame routes where the protag does actually show some degree of initiative or agency, it never really compensates for the rest of it, and the feeling I got was far more "finally, he's actually doing something" than any kind of catharsis or excitement at it taking place. I did play with the Committee of Zero fan patch so I don't know how much might be tied to that or if it was just unfucking the translation and subtitling movies, fwiw. I do want to play Chaos;Child since that seemed to be far more well regarded, but I'll go in order with Sci;Ad here and Steins;Gate will be my next one; I know I'll have a good time with that since I liked the anime.
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Apr 12, 2024 15:33
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tbh i like that chaos head is a vn about someone who is not alright in any way, especially since it doesn’t portray his takes as being right or good, a common pitfall for these kinds of characters. just have to be comfortable with that going into it. i couldn’t get into the latter quarter of the game, but up until then it was a shockingly fresh experience.
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Apr 12, 2024 17:13
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I don't disagree with that, but it's just such an unrelenting factor that it just wears you down as you go through it, particularly since you need to do all the character-specific ending routes to see the true ending, and some of those are extremely unpleasant.
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Apr 12, 2024 17:35
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Yeah I didn't think Chaos Head Noah was worth it either, basically for the same reasons. There's some good stuff there, but it doesn't outweigh how miserable a lot of the bad stuff is.
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Apr 12, 2024 18:24
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Chaos;Head is one of the two entries in the series that I could just have skipped and not missed much. The other one being Anonymous;Code.
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Apr 14, 2024 19:31
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woodenchicken posted:Chaos;Head is one of the two entries in the series that I could just have skipped and not missed much. The other one being Anonymous;Code. You are forgetting about Robotic;Notes Dash (and the bazillion Steins;Gate spin-offs).
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Apr 14, 2024 19:58
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It's really just kind of a minor miracle that Steins;Gate is as good as it is.
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Apr 14, 2024 20:33
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0, for all its flaws, is still far better than it has any right to be, too.
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Apr 14, 2024 20:49
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IShallRiseAgain posted:You are forgetting about Robotic;Notes Dash (and the bazillion Steins;Gate spin-offs).
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Apr 14, 2024 21:25
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woodenchicken posted:Haven't tried all of these yet, but I'm willing to give chances. Darling was funny and cute. Phenogram had a couple of character chapters that were A-OK. The Mayuri one where she decides to end her toxic relationship with Okarin? Pretty moving! I hope the Luka route is respectful and cute
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Apr 14, 2024 22:52
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CottonWolf posted:0, for all its flaws, is still far better than it has any right to be, too. I’ve watched about 2/3 the anime and enjoyed it, though I’ve held off on the remainder since I’m working on the Sci;Ad games now.
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Apr 15, 2024 00:54
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CottonWolf posted:0, for all its flaws, is still far better than it has any right to be, too. I don't count 0 as a spin-off. Its a sidequel. 0 has some interesting things happening, which is why its so disappointing that the actual execution is so poorly handled.
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Apr 15, 2024 22:12
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I found Chaos;Head utterly disgusting but at least it was ...enticing in its sort of self-pity wallowing ways like you watch a train crash happening in a slow motion. Whereas Chaos;Child just absolutely couldn't hold my attention. Not sure if it's a worse VN in general or if it says something dire about me.
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Apr 23, 2024 12:11
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I still regularly think about the poster who played Steins Gate, got the Mayuri ending, and was satisfied and refused to keep playing.
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Apr 23, 2024 20:08
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Dessel posted:I found Chaos;Head utterly disgusting but at least it was ...enticing in its sort of self-pity wallowing ways like you watch a train crash happening in a slow motion. Whereas Chaos;Child just absolutely couldn't hold my attention. Not sure if it's a worse VN in general or if it says something dire about me. At least with Chaos Head it makes sense why the protagonist is as insufferable as he is.
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Apr 24, 2024 02:51
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