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Showing most liked content since 07/20/2019 in Posts

  1. 9 points

    FuwaChanges : The update log

    FuwaChanges A public log where you can see all changes that is made. Today inactive moderators will be removed. Sad to see such big part of them inactive. but not surprising. They are welcome back to the positions if they come back. Moderators removed : Nohman, Eclipsed, Helvetica standard, Flutterz and our oldtimer global mods Nosebleed and Down. Mr Poltroon was promoted to Global mod, Plk_Lesiak have been added to Board moderators. Some minor forum cleaning have started. Some of the sections have been abit clutterd with pinned threads, for example Helvetiva´s Renpy guide have now been moved to the mainsite. More things to come. This first post will be fairly short, There is alot more worked on behind the scenes and as things get done it will be added to this thread. i have slowly started adding VN´s and change things on the mainsite and the forums. But its a big list and im just 1 person. Find any errors or something else to report. use the Report & Request a change section
  2. 7 points
    This is the one, this is the post that will finally get us our anime titty back into VNs
  3. 7 points
    You folks are talking about a mass move by Japanese VN developers toward mobage like it's a hypothetical, but from what I understand, it's pretty much a fait accompli. A large number of VN developers have already tried (and/or are currently trying) their hand at mobage. You just haven't heard much about it here since they've all have failed miserably thus far, aside from Type-Moon. So it's a bit late to be worried about that coming to suck away the attention paid to VNs—we're already in that boat. To bring this somewhat back on topic... VN loc companies are similarly looking all around for ways to stay/become profitable. There are only two real strategies I've seen almost all of them employing, at this point: China, and console releases. For China: if you have a license for a worldwide release, why not sell to a market that actually has consistently shown they're willing to pay for VNs, enough to fund a localization effort? It's certainly profitable. For console: Switch ports seem to be profitable, maybe? Though I don't have as clear a picture on that, and there aren't a lot of data points yet. But you can look at lackluster games like Root Letter getting huge sales numbers on consoles and realize, oh yeah, there's probably something there if you play your cards right. Now, neither of those is going to do the vast majority of people on this board much good, since we're mostly 1) not Chinese readers and 2) looking for 18+ content. As long as English 18+ release sales remain low (for whatever reasons, including but not limited to high rates of piracy), the only hope most of us have is that the VN loc companies both expand in some way that lets them make money (China, console, and/or some other means) and continue to subsidize English versions with 18+ content from those profits out of pure passion for it. That is effectively what they're doing today. Denpasoft, JAST USA, and Nekonyan are all on the China boat (Nekonyan through the Hikari Field partnership), leaving only MangaGamer in the lurch. Denpasoft and MangaGamer, at least, are both doing the non-PC thing, though MangaGamer is taking a galaxy-brain approach where they vomited up a buggy android app and then promptly forgot about it. I'd say if MangaGamer doesn't get in on the Chinese market in some way within the next year or so, I'll eat my hat, except they're so slow-moving that maybe they'll just keep trickling away dollars forever... Anyway, subsidizing 18+ English releases like this is honestly both risky (all kinds of legal exposure they could easily avoid by just, not doing it) and bad business (because it's throwing away money with no hope of return), but all these companies are doing it anyway. And yet somehow a lot of the vocal members of the VN community treat all of them as some evil enemy, most of the time. Sigh.
  4. 7 points
  5. 6 points
    For people who appeared in something like the /r/vns Visual novel no cheating! Ideally I'd want you to use your current IRL traits but if you have an ideal person you wanna be or base yourself more on how you act on the internet you can make that I guess Here's mine: Hair- Black, Short Eyes- Black Body- Young-Adult, Average Height, Dark Clothes- Baggy Pants, Shoes, T-Shirt Personality- Friendly, Serious, Strange, Docile, Pacifist, Kind, Otaku, Loyal, Food Lover Role- Living Alone, Gamer, Phillipine, Older Brother Engages In- Online Chatting, Teasing, Sarcasm, Reading Subject of- Teasing, Bullying, Massage Engages in (Sexual) - None Subject of (Sexual)- None
  6. 6 points
    It took me 1 year and 8 months to do it, but I've finally finished translating all 2265 lines of Watashi wa Kyou Koko de Shinimasu - in our localization, This is where I die today. During the most active period (where I did ~85% of the work), I managed a staggering pace of 6 lines per day. Shinimasu is a nakige that doesn't waste time - it manages to present a multifaceted, compelling plot in its 2 hour playtime. It starts with a suicide attempt, and if you've ever felt like it yourself, you might find it intensely relatable. It's not afraid to show its characters weak or indecisive, but that doesn't mean they don't show their strength as well. Two misfits meet, lick each other's wounds, and - if nothing else - at the end of it, they're no longer alone. How do you live on this goddamned bitch of an earth? Maybe you'll find an answer in this visual novel. I've previously livestreamed reading my raw translation of the first episode on Twitch; I'll be doing the same for ep 2 at 8pm CEST on Monday (the 12th). You can watch a recording of the first stream here: Ask me about Shinimasu, translation, my new avatar, or anything else you'd like, and I'll answer you in a potentially spicy manner.
  7. 6 points
    https://fuwanovel.net/reviews/2019/08/10/the-language-of-love/ Feel free to discuss the review/the game, if anyone is actually interested in that, but I created this mostly to celebrate the fact that we have first content on the main site since exactly one year ago (not counting VNTS). And while publishing a single article on August 10th every year would be an interesting gimmick, I kind of hope to see more life there (and not just my EVN reviews too, that would be in really bad taste). If you find in yourself some energy for writing about a recent release, I'm sure no one will scoff at even one-time contributions, if they keep a decent-enough quality. We don't have a review team leader ATM, but if you contact me or @Emi, I'm pretty sure we'll be able to figure it out. And the blog staff recruitment post is also still up. :3
  8. 6 points
  9. 6 points

    Why Visual Novels?

    I can speak only for myself and my motivation to read VNs is a bit sketchy in the first place. At first, I simply kept them as an allowed exception while trying to limit my video game habits. It evolved to the current state of affairs, where I more or less stopped playing any other kind of games. The reason I find visual novel way less toxic for me is because they require some basic intellectual effort to follow the story and don't include endless gameplay loops I could burn countless hours on. They're stories to experience, and not autistic sandboxes that'll suck me in for a week and spit out with with bloodshot eyes and realisation of dozens of hours burned on something that didn't even left me an impression that would be worth sharing with anyone. But, if course, if there wasn't something in VN that I really enjoyed, I wouldn't get so much into them. For me its: 1. Incredible variety of conclusive romance stories. I honestly didn't know I liked romance stories this much before I came back to watching anime regularly and started reading VNs. But anime quite too often means harem comedies and I happen to hate "romance" in those. Because they never commit and when they do, it's usually not the girl I was rooting for. This is why having a route for every heroine is an enormous perk. I identified the best girl? I can get the MC to romance her. I like some secondary ones? Also covered. The rest of them? I probably got enough connection to the whole cast by this point to enjoy them too in the end. No linear media will give me that. 2. Variety of romance stories once more. Yuri, otome, galge, BL. Fluffy love stories and serious drama. Tiny games for half an evening and novel-sized epics. VNs got you all covered. It might get stale if you just read moege, but, partially because of my weird blogging endeavours, I end up reading incredibly varied stuff and so far I didn't get bored of any of it. 3. Anime art. I love anime art over any other style. Give me anime girls kissing and you can take all the rest of my visual media away, I won't complain much. But aside from my personal deviancy, VN art is just that good in many cases. 4. And well, for someone like me, with pretty limited visual imagination, in many cases VNs are simply more compelling than literature. I like having at least some visual representation of what I'm reading to give my mind some point of reference/guide on how to interpret it all. For example, I'm not sure if I'd have enjoyed reading Dune as much as I did if I didn't have some vision of its world from the classic games I played. It's not something I'm particularly proud of, but from my experience, that's just how my brain is wired and I can't do much about it. VNs are a pretty good compromise between literary text and graphics, showing you a lot but still leaving a lot of gaps for your imagination to fill. Curious what other people's motivations are. :3
  10. 6 points
    Think of it this way: who is the audience for English eroge? Young males (mainly in the US). What is the situation of young males with time on their hands these days? Usually buried in student loan debt trying to get through university. Do you honestly expect these people to buy eroge on credit? As for the population that doesn't go through university, their wages are generally lower and they have less time--also not a recipe for spending on high-priced time-consuming entertainment that you can only enjoy alone. Simply put, this is a demographics issue that doesn't have an easy solution. A pirated copy isn't a lost sale. Limiting piracy isn't going to increase their entertainment budgets. They'll just find their porn somewhere else. As for why Sol Press specifically might be having profitability issues: just look at their game lineup. They're selling a bunch of medium to long length games that are expensive and time-consuming to translate (and consume). They're all moege, appealing to more or less the same restricted audience. It's one thing to be a developer and stick to what you're good at (creatively). But sticking to one genre or game type doesn't do you much good as a publisher. Diversification spreads your risk and drives traffic from different audiences. That's good for business. It's also important to point out that Sol Press is relatively new and doesn't have much of a following or brand recognition. In addition, VN sales have a long tail in the West, and they don't have enough titles or sales history to benefit from that just yet. As for the article itself, it seems to stumble from one bit of nonsense to another. In what reality is releasing games sooner after the Japanese release going to decrease piracy?
  11. 6 points
    Status update Overall progress: Translation: 7205/43896 Editing: 4923/43896
  12. 6 points
  13. 5 points
    Fred the Barber

    9-nine-: Episode 2 released

    Broski's back, y'all. Denpasoft (full 18+ release): https://denpasoft.com/collections/newest-releases/products/9-nine-episode-2 Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1033420/9nineEpisode_2/ Denpasoft (free patch for the Steam release): https://denpasoft.com/collections/dlc/products/9-nine-episode-2-18-dlc
  14. 5 points
    Rama 裸魔 ♂ A Measurements Height: 174cm Hair - Brown, Long, Ponytail, Straight Eyes - Brown Body - Teen, Younger Appearance, Slim, Body Piercing Clothes - Apron, Blindfold, Choker, Dress, Jacket, Knee-high Socks, Leotard, Maid's Dress, Micro Bikini, Microskirt, Miniskirt, Naked Apron, Nurse Uniform, Panties, T-shirt Items - Computer, Condoms Personality - Deredere, Genius, Kind, Shy, Slut, Sweets Lover Role - Gaymer, Friend, Homossexual, Villain, Prostitute Engages in - Crossdressing, Flirting, Online Chatting, Prostitution, Teasing, Tentacle Rape, Torture Engages in (Sexual) - Anal Fingering, Anilingus, Bathroom Sex, Bestiality, Blowjob, Group Sex, Handjob, Masturbation, Masturbation with Object, Nipple Sucking, Outdoor Sex, Peeing, Sex in Public Places, Sex involving Prostitution, Sex with Monsters, Sex with Others, Sex with Tentacles (Consensual), Sixty-nine, Virgin Sex Subject of (Sexual) - Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Anilingus, Body Writing, Bondage Sex, Bukkake, Butterfly, Clamps (BDSM), Cowgirl, Cunnilingus, Doggy Style, Inflated Belly, Missionary, Multiple Penetration, Nipple Sucking, Object Insertion, Petplay, Quickie Fix, Reverse Missionary, Seventh Posture, Sexual Blindfold, Sitting Sex, Spit-roast, Standing Sex, Suspension Bondage, Tribadism on Penis, Vibrator, Wooden Horse
  15. 5 points
  16. 5 points
    Click here to be taken to it! Demo download links: Windows --- Mac --- Linux 2016.Inre Island. A seemingly idyllic, modern island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. A constant tranquil breeze along a mild climate, and a well-off society embracing a harmonious way of life. Its citizens often refer to the island as their very own miracle, counting themselves lucky to have been born on it. Tourism is low despite Inre being a highly desired travel destination, and for good reason. Not only is it a trip only the rich can afford, a rigorous regime means a special visa is required for entry. 2018. Over a course of six months, a lethal biological attack claims a significant amount of lives. While tragedy occupies people's minds to the brim, a controlling governmental plan is constructed and put into motion. All to prevent such attacks from ever occurring again. The following years, Inre Island's citizens face unexpected change from their usual ways. On a sombre day – damp, dark, and horrifying – the internet is shut down, leaving the island disconnected from the world around it. 2020 - present. After a long internet-less spring tinged with uncertainty, a new system to replace it with is introduced. A new "internet" along digital setbacks result in major changes to everyday life. Unable to adapt, many find themselves spiritually stuck in a world that no longer exists. Suddenly, the island appears shrouded in mysteries. The closed hearts are many. A select few want a way out. But most want to reset and forget. People who never would've met, meet. People who never would've loved, love. An island that had never known sadness, knows it now. Cerulean Days is set in 2020, and follows two outliers of society – mellow Michael and competent Séverine – as they discover the true effects of 2018. Amidst tragedy of lost friends and family bonds are grown, solace is found, feelings blossom, truth is discovered, and conspiracies are seemingly unraveled. Hearts in need of mending await you. Welcome to Inre Island. Séverine - A creative and intelligent girl working as a professional pastry chef in a luxurious mall. Due to strict schooling and an arduous upbringing, she has a habit of setting a high bar for both herself and those around her. She has a bold side to her, but typically only lets it show around people she's comfortable with. Her past is filled with loneliness, but found comfort in chatting with like-minded people online. Due to the changes to Inre Island, and their effects on the social landscape, she is put in a position she's unfamiliar with. And she does not like it. Grace - A kind-hearted and bubbly woman working at Inre City High School. For three years, she was Michael's homeroom teacher. After a tragic personal crisis of Michael's, Grace offers him all the support a grieving one could wish for. Since that day, they've lived in harmony under the same roof. Since that day, they've found solace in each other's company. Since that day, they've been an uncommon "family". Rose - A cheerful full-time streamer meets an internet-less society. Confusion about life ensues. Her online community – her everything – is forever gone. Rose is lost, and knows not how to get out of the pit she has been put in. And her stubbornness makes everything all the more difficult! Will she adapt? Or will she remain stuck, holding onto fragments of her past? Greetings, Fuwanovel! I'm Leaf, and I like to create stories in my favorite medium: visual novels! This is my third project, and it has been titled Cerulean Days. And I come bearing a demo! A great deal of effort has gone into it, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on both the demo and the game as a whole! The download links are at the top of the page, but I'll put them below as well. A Kickstarter campaign is also running currently – please give it a look if you like what you see on this page! Windows --- Mac --- Linux If you have any other thoughts or questions – let me know! - Leaf
  17. 5 points
    Noratoto - 18+ Restoration Project 1. VN Info 2. Synopsis 3. VN OP 4. Project Introduction 5. Staff 6. Recruitment 7. Progress
  18. 5 points
  19. 5 points
    Please leave Fruitbat out of this. They localised the console version, which, as far as I know, is a proper port with replacement scenes etc. They didn't consor/edit anything. They could reject the project altogether, but that could mean no Noraneko release at all. Focus on actual censorship, instead of pushing this argument that every all-ages version of a VN is lesser by default. I'm sick of the fact that every modification to a game that removes or reduces porn is automatically starting a shit storm no matter how it's done, with this BS premise that it's about "integrity" and not fapping material. Sure, h-scenes are always inserted to VNs for "integrity" and "artistic expression" and not shuehorned in as fanservice. That's how things work in the skewed fantasy world of VNfanverse.
  20. 5 points
    Tl;dr support the industry and buy games! In a niche market like this, individual sales can literally make a difference.
  21. 5 points
    Newton was a poor choice overall. From what I've seen of their releases, their choices for localization are almost exclusively mid to low quality charage, with the only significant announcements (from the games I've played, anyway) being HHG, Irotoridori, and Witch's Garden. All three of these are also listed as TBA, so who knows when they will come out... and they are also ridiculously long and thus expensive to translate. The Western market is currently on a SOL craze, but the market is already saturated. While there isn't a variety, there is enough SOL localized to get thoroughly sick of the genre if you don't have a natural aptitude for reading that stuff constantly. Sol Press's poor sales are occurring because they've made poor choices of games to localize (the ones that have already been completely localized). To be blunt, none of the games they have completed localization of so far were pushed by the community before they were announced, and none of them were anywhere near the top of anyone's list to try. While picking titles by little-known and low-budget companies, as well as old titles that are immensely forgettable probably let them keep the money they shelled out to the Japanese side to a minimum, the titles they chose weren't titles that could compete with the higher-end SOL titles already available here in the West. As such, Sol Press doesn't really have my sympathy. Their own poor business practices are what are killing their profits, not piracy, though piracy does harm the industry as a whole (though not nearly as bad as companies say it does).
  22. 5 points
    Finished the VN last night Overall I liked it. I would say its biggest strengths are: * All the characters are pretty likable and funny, outside maybe one prominent character in Mimari's route who was written to be unlikable * It has some nice feel good/emotional moments throughout * Unique enough setting with the plane fighting and stuff to make it stick out from other galge. * Character development is decent enough for each character. I'd say its biggest weaknesses are: * Romance seems slightly rushed in each route * The routes are obviously formulaic: Route starts -> Romance starts -> H-scene + SoL x3-5 -> Drama outta nowhere -> EPIC PLANE FLIGHT * While not as bad as say... Muv-Luv every so once in a while the plane explanations are a little too long-winded for a plane noob like me who isn't particularly into fighting planes. * Nahoko and Hikari's voice acting volumes aren't balanced very well with the otehrs and there's no way to adjust individual character volumes. Some other thoughts that are more like observations: * It has a slightly unique art style. While still anime style, all the drawings are... stencil-y? * Those H-scenes are loooooonnnnnnnnnggg * Only 1 choice mattering, I don't particularly whether choices really count as long as the story/characters are good Overall Character Rankings Kazusa > Hikari > Mimari > Nahoko Kazusa- I've stated multiple times but from the beginning but I was VERY impressed with how they handled her as a tsundere. Very reasonable and willing to admit her mistakes and be openly caring of others while still having the typical tsundere trait of being dishonest with her feelings to allow for decent development. Hikari- I thought she would be a generic optimistic ditzy character... well she still basically was by the end but I actually like the way her character was executed in terms of motivating the rest of the team. Also she was pretty funny and a surprisingly good troll humor wise. Sadly she herself didn't develop much. Mimari- The closest thing to a mysterious/kuudere character. While she did have her blunt side, she mixed it with otherwise being very friendly for the most part and only being harsh to people who really deserve it. Her bluntness provided some good humor. Her past was clearly the most deep and interesting. Nahoko- She had some funny moments and is likable enough but she felt oddly... underused even though she was supposed to be the leader? Even in her route I liked the concept of her development but some parts were executed oddly. Overall Route Rankings Hikari > Kazusa > Nahoko > Mimari Hikari- Arguably the most simple route, Hikari herself doesn't have too much development BUT you get to see the positive motivation she has on everyone the most here and it's really nice to see. Also her backstory related to her plane was the cutest. Her development with her plane was the most memorable to me as well. Kazusa- Mostly carried due to the fact that Junichi and her had the most interactions in the common route due to their living situation so them getting together quickly actually kinda made sense. Her development being centered around her insecurities was nice. Nahoko- As stated in her character writeup, I like the idea of her development in her route related to working herself hard to not knowing what she wanted to do and related to her and Junichi not being officially together right away. But... some parts were executed weirdly. Still enjoyed it. Mimari- Her route had arguably the most plot relevance in terms of characters involved in a way that felt like a true route. I personally wasn't a big fan of the typical running away from an arranged marriage trope being the main plot. It caused MImari herslef to not have room to develop in an interesting way outside using her Grandma's plane temporarily. Still was overall decent. Overall H-scene Rankings Kazusa > Mimari > Nahoko > Hikari Won't go into much detail besides Kazusa's were much better than everyone else's. If you wanna know more details just PM or @ me or something. Overall Plane Rankings A6M5 Type Zero Model 52 > Kyushu J7W Shinden > Spitfire LF mk.lXc > Ki-46 III Otsu + Hei > Ki-44 Shoki Zero- I like the specs and features of it the most. Also has the cutest relations to the plot/route. Shinden- Kinda unfair due to plot and MC relevance but can't beat that speed and firepower. Spitfire- Mostly for the plot/route relevance. Ki-46- Has an interesting design. Shoki- Least memorable. Characters I want a route of most Rankings Akane > Katou > Saiko > Haruka > who cares Akane- I usually like down to earth girls who have potential to be fun. Not sure where her development would be though. Katou- A very confident girl who would have interesting developments Id imagine. Saiko- Seems like the obvious choice but... she did have more of an obsession with machines and god what the fuck are those boobs size wise Haruka- She's nice and all but given when happens in Kazusa's I would feel bad. Favorite Song It's Counterattack Time! (Sadly not on YouTube at the moment, may have to fix that myself) Final Rating TDLR If you like slice of life feel good VNs and don't mind a touch of fighting plane action, recommend. 7.5/10, rounds up to an 8.
  23. 4 points
    Note that there is no all ages version and Steam and Denpasoft both have identical uncut, demosaiced releases. That means you'll need the right config toggles in Steam before they'll let you see it exists. Pick it up with a 10% launch discount on either store: Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1100800/I_Walk_Among_Zombies_Vol_2/ Denpasoft: https://denpasoft.com/collections/newest-releases/products/i-walk-among-zombies-vol-2 The new heroine in this one is really cool, and as with volume 1, the volume 2 is one part post-apocalyptic survival horror one part human drama. This time, I'd say, with a little more emphasis on the "human" angle, as Yuusuke slowly starts to become a little less of a clod.
  24. 4 points

    IMHHW(Nintendo Switch)

    Yup, this will be the same broken crap we know from the Steam version. If Pulltop actually cared, they would release the Cruise Sign PS3 port (a high-effort all-ages version that didn't exist when the first IMHHW localisation was made) in English with fixed translation, but that would require actual effort and investment. Why bother when you can make a cheap cash-grab.
  25. 4 points

    Why Visual Novels?

    I once had a nightmare that Grisaia no Kajitsu had an anime adaptation. It was horrible.
  26. 4 points
    I don't really care about r18 stuff tbh. To me, sex detracts from the vn experience.
  27. 4 points
    OP negotiating with visual novel publishers [Colorized]
  28. 4 points
    You're writing in vain. None of the companies you mentioned give a shit about us. Also... Fruitbat is not the one who fucked up Noratoto. It was Harukaze that decided to do the console version instead of adult one. Most titles that Fruitbat localized are all-ages to begin with.
  29. 4 points
  30. 4 points

    What are you playing?

    So, I finished another otome VN: Nightshade - a tale about Ninjas. First, I wanted to say that I'm still a bit irritated that I have to revert to an otome VN if I want to read an action-loaded story about cool Ninjas, because the only other thing I get are a bunch of rotten sex fests from Black Lilith. So, since I got that off my heart now, I can start with my review. Nightshade is a story about the Kouga shinobi clan after the Iga clan was eliminated in the Tenshou Iga War, and its survivors fused with the Kouga clan. In that regard, it's a similar alternative Japanese history VN like Hakuouki, even if it doesn't quite reach the high level of it. The protagonist girl Enju is the daughter of the leaders of the Kouga clan and the former Iga clan and represents a symbol of their unification. When the VN starts she's pretty much a ninja rookie and sent on a mission with her companions to capture a famous thief in the capital of Kyo. The ninja's here fulfill different roles, depending on clan and current master. The range goes from private body guards and secret police like the Tokugawa, special agents and spies like the Kouga to simple hired mercenaries and assassins like the Fuma. The common route is pretty much about getting to know all the characters and Enju's first mission to capture the thief of Kyo. The individual character routes start after that mission is over and things going horrible wrong afterwards with Enju on the run. This part was surprisingly good, even if it could have probably been a bit longer. Enju is certainly the best protagonist character from the otome VN's I've read so far. Though that doesn't say much I guess, since I didn't read that much otomes yet. Since Enju is a shinobi herself and not just a passive bystander, she's much more involved and proactive as usual. The VN also had a great feature to get more involved into Enju's thoughts and emotions. On the lower left side there was always her portrait showing her current expressions. Other VN's usually only show the currently talking character face there, but here you can always see how she reacts on what others say or what she herself says and thinks. I really liked that, especially since Enju was a rather pretty and charming character. The quality of the routes varied though. The first route I read was from Choujirou. He's the leader of the Kouga group sent to Kyo and Enju's personal instructor. The character itself was great, but unfortunately his route not so much. A long time you've no idea what's going on and Enju is thrown around like a sack of rice between the guys trying to save her instead of doing something useful herself and I also found the resolution of the story fairly weak. On the other hand, it had some 'Red Wedding' like twist I simply didn't expect from that VN. Fun fact: Choujirou was voiced by Toriumi Kousuke who also voiced Saitou Hajime from Hakouki, who is exactly one of the three characters I read the routes from in Hakouki. The second route I read was from Hanzou, a former Iga member and now the leader of the private shinobi guard from lord Tokugawa. He's a real badass and considered the strongest ninja around. This was clearly my favorite route. Hanzou had a cool teasing relationship with lord Tokugawa who was my most favorite side character by a long mile. Hanzou and Enju also develop a touching Leon & Mathilda relationship, with Hanzou being the absolute super killer, giving her advanced training when they are on the run and fending off the other shinobi clans together. Hanzou also brings the best out of Enju. He likes smart and diligent characters, so Enju is forced to act that way if a romance relationship should develop. I also liked the plot resolution much more like in the previous route, even though I found the resolution about her father a bit too comic-book-villainy. Fun fact: Hanzou was voiced by Toriumi Kousuke who also voiced Kazama Chikage, the arch-villain from Hakouki, who is another one of the three characters I read the routes from in Hakouki. Fun fact-2: I thought that lord Tokugawa was a (pretty) woman in disguise the whole time, because 'he' looked and sounded so feminine. I couldn't believe the VNDB entry and even checked the gender of the voice actor... and apparently 'he' is supposed to be male. It was still so hard to believe that I was almost thinking about requesting a gender check. The third route I played was from Goemon. He appears like a simple womanizer at first, but tuns out to be a man of many secrets. The plot also develops rather different than the other two before, and involves the five elders much more. I liked it although it doesn't beat the one of Hanzou. Mainly because Enju was forced into a rather passive observer role here for a good part of the route. The situation demanded it and was well-founded, but it's still more fun to have Enju doing stuff and making decisions herself. I wasn't so interested in the teenie connection of Gekkamaru and his brother Kuroyuki. Especially Gekkamaru was painfully bland. I was fine with the routes of the three adults and therefore skipped the routes of those two. The individual routes have strong similarities anyway. The VN also had some pretty good side characters, especially Tokugawa Ieyasu, but also Enju's two companions Kyara and Ennosuke. Production values were decent even if it can't compete with Hakouki. Art designs were still good, although the images could have been a bit sharper. Story and characters were interesting although the villains were a bit lacking and made some plot resolutions disappointing. Hakuouki had much better developed villains. If the other four elders would have been as well developed as lord Tokugawa this VN could have even beaten Hakouki. Though Enju was certainly a better protagonist than Chizuru. The common and hero routes could also have been a bit longer I think. Character ranking: (Tokugawa Ieyasu) > Hanzou > Choujirou > Goemon >> Kuroyuki > Gekkamaru (Still irritated that Tokugawa is supposed to be a dude, but I certainly like her him) Overall rating 7.5/10
  31. 4 points
  32. 4 points
    Stop hating on Moeblobs. There is a large variety in quality among them and just because you don't like them doesn't mean they are not of quality. Also if you don't like moeblobs then ignore them, don't pirate them (not sure you do your text just kind of seemed to possibly hint at it).
  33. 4 points
    Okay guys, time for some updates. The entirety of this month, July, was spent on doing tech work. And for their great successes and achievements with this, you can all send your thanks to @marcus-beta and @Casual_Scrub. They alone really did a lot, lot more than anyone else involved with this project did so far. I am really grateful for their active support for this project, and I wish I could say the same kind of progress was made for the other parts of the project. But alas, other than the great progress on the tech stuff, I must admit we didn't do much for the translation of the H-scenes. Not only that, but we may have also hit a roadblock in this project at the moment. Namely, our TLer got busy with real life issues and won't have time to work on this anymore. That means we practically don't have a TLer now. And that's why, if you know anyone who'd be interested in helping us to translate this, we'd be grateful if you could point that person our way. We're right now looking for a TLer, but in case we don't manage to find one, not all is lost. The final solution will be to just MTL all H-scenes and release the patch like that. It's not a perfect solution, but at least Noratoto will be uncensored that way. Thank you for your continued support.
  34. 4 points
    https://imgur.com/a/RBDOnJn Special thanks to @Sonikun4 on Twitter for archiving his current Rewrite readthrough on Twitter through screenshots.
  35. 3 points

    Why Visual Novels?

    I was wondering today, during my daily complain about how I hate VNs time, why do people read VNs? What do VNs offer that other entertainment mediums do not? For example, some visual novels are able to play with perspective in a unique way that other mediums cannot match to mess with how one interprets the story. Personally, I think many visual novels, if not nearly every single VN, fails to actually do anything with the medium itself and instead relies on tradition (for example, "VNs have always had X or Y so this VN has X in it too!") to push copies. Sometimes I see stories being pushed as a huge selling point for a VN, but that has me wondering often, why does it have to be a VN for the story to exist? Could the story work just as well as a novel/LN/manga? So my main question isn't so much what is a VN but why is a VN a VN? Yes I know, stupid question but it is something I'm curious about.
  36. 3 points
    Zakamutt aka Zaka aka 變態魔法猫ザカちゃん, Zakaslut, Bakabutt, Zakabutt, 宿無きの如くに振舞い缶拾狂人「ザ缶」, Zakan, Kill yourself zaka, (You), Neck yourself zakaMUTT, Sharmoot, INUKAI ZAKA, 経世済民を齎す威風堂々な極的存在ボーイ, Gay Height: 182cm Hair: Dark Blonde, Long, Sumptuous SPELLED FUCKING RIGHT DAMN IT CHACHA, Not cared for lmao, Viking, Dual braids Eyes: Aryan blue Nose: Powerful Body: デブデブ Clothes: Whatever mum bought me Items: Diabeetus needles, Glucose meter, Glucose candy, RtK1 (6th ed.), 灰色少女の声 physical motherfucking edition Personality: Smart, Retarded, Sarcastic, Friendly, Optimistic, Cynic, Positive, Negative, Degenerate, Depressed, Absurd tiers of not actually depressed Role: Unregistered Sex Offender, Translator, TLC, Editor (sub), Transcriber, 'Hacker', Release engineer, Project leader (that actually does stuff), HMN's Wife, Accursed Straight Gay Engages in: Anti-Israel propaganda, Trolling, Chilling with the boys, Getting kicked from Japanese discord servers by autistic server owners THAT SOUND REALLY HOT THOUGH FUCK, Dank memes, Reading games edgier than Shirou's body turned entirely into BLADES inside your matrilineal ancestor, Thinking about how retarded HMN's ban was Engages in (Sexual): My life is masturbation. Total masturbation. I revolve and accelerate, my hand in my pants the whole time. I'm a ballerina dancing through the world. Misc: Check out my translations, if you can find them
  37. 3 points
    With the end of his high school career approaching, Kyou Koyama is a friendless and troubled young man. However, having recently taken an interest in hypnosis, he supposes he can salvage his relationships with his classmates using the power of suggestion. With the help of a modified penlight of his own design, he sets out the change his world, one class rep at a time... Penlight is a visual novel set in a high-school with a heavy hypnosis/brainwashing kink theme. While still in early development, the current release is fully playable from start to finish. It should be noted that all characters featured in the game are in their senior year of high school and are over 18 years of age. Download: Free releases available via my Patreon or itch.io Current public release: August 10th 2019 Next public release due on September 14th 2019 Currently Features: Around 62,500 words Three main routes, playable from start to end, with at least one consequential choice for each Hypnosis & Mind Control (Consenting and non-consenting) Mild D/s Robotization Male protagonist Three female characters 2D Animé-style art (In the process of upgrading from placeholder stock sprites) Most Recent Additions: New major route (Villainous) with two distinct story paths New sprite for Nozomi, albeit with limited functionality (selectable on game start) Added a few more assets; a couple new backgrounds, character expressions, sounds and a smartphone graphic, mostly to accommodate the villainous route Tweaked some of the dialogue in the two original routes, mostly to resolve inconsistencies created by the villainous route additions Changed the file format of the music to ogg from mp3, significantly reducing file size General spelling and grammar corrections Please note that I tagged the game 18+ on my Patreon and Itch.io pages, more because of the non-consenting mind control that some might find objectionable rather than the presence of any explicit NFSW content. The content is probably more PEGI 16 / ESRB M were it rated for audiences. Support The Project Penlight is very much a work in progress. Over time I intend to improve the game's writing, art and audio into a more complete game with multiple story branches and additional choices that yield interesting consequences for the player. Check in every second Saturday of each month for a new public release with updated content! While I'm confident I can make a functioning and enjoyable visual novel on a super limited budget, any funding I do get will be invested into making a higher quality product. If you would like to make a contribution, please visit my Patreon and consider pledging ($5 patrons get access to new content up to 4 weeks ahead of the free releases). Comments and feedback are welcome, too. I appreciate any support!
  38. 3 points

    IMHHW(Nintendo Switch)

    Switch Restoration Project when?
  39. 3 points
    Status update Overall progress: Translation: 7205/43896 Editing: 4923/43896 @Philly Has joined the project as a image editor.
  40. 3 points

    Now Hiring: Blog Staff

    As we all know, the blog has been quite inactive for awhile, like everything else. But it's time for some changes. Job Description: You will be part of team for a semi-regular blog, but it would be good if you could work independently. Find what to write about, contact developers for interviews, etc. You can, of course, discuss with the team about it. There won't be high pressure on getting content out. Fuwa is a hobby after all. That's why there will be several positions available, though hopefully we can reach at least 1 post per month per person. Talk and update your team on what you're doing, help read/edit others' posts before going live. @Zakamutt Is the teamleader helping out your team is good. Me and "a secret person" will help out with ideas and coming in contact with developers at times. If you want to apply, contact @Zakamutt through PM on the forums. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just let him know why you're interested in the job and if you have any experience in writing blogs (here or elsewhere). If you've got other questions about it, feel free to contact me in a PM or reply to this thread. i dont bite, i promise
  41. 3 points
  42. 3 points
    He said at AX something like "There are people always very passionate for VNs, including workers at Sol Press". So even if they are at a loss, Im sure many of the workers WANT to be on VN projects and of course being able to have good will in the VN community and Japanese companies is always nice.
  43. 3 points

    What are you playing?

    Just a general idea: shouldn't this thread be pinned instead of all those super-outdated compilations? It's kind of a core part of the forums... Anyway, to the topic. I was actually reading quite a few things lately, even though it doesn't show very much in my VNDB. I've finished the route I once skipped in Fragment's Note, Misha's (the deredere childhood friend) and read all the three arcs of After Stories. It's one of the very few genuine mobile JVNs (that is, counting those that actually tell stories and not the microtransaction-riddled messes just masquerading as VNs) that were translated into English and I can't really decide what to think about it. The main intrigue is quite cool and I like most of the characters, but there are just no limits to how dumb and repetitive this VN can get. The stepsister's and childhood friend's routes are nearly identical, the drama showing up after the main plot is resolved is utterly idiotic and drags on for an eternity. But I still kind of can't force myself to hate it, especially when reading it leisurely on my phone. After Stories were nice to read mostly because they skipped on serious drama and just focused on the protagonist and the heroine of your choice figuring out what their relationship should be like. And in the end, two things are certain: Eri is the best girl (she starts as a bit of a confused moron, but I think a slightly-traumatized teen could easily end up being that way – at least she has an actual personality) and Misha is annoying as f*** when she's not in a supporting role. But also, even if I'm reading through an utterly mediocre series, I find it impossible to not feel some connection to the characters and to not enjoy the whole thing more and more over time (well, Sakura MMO might be an exception, but that's beside the point...). I'm slowly starting to get into Fragment's Note 2 and I think I'll enjoy it even if it repeats most of the sins of the original – also because every VN reads better when it's your only entertainment during a long, boring bus ride... I've also finished reading No One But You and well, it was entertaining for all the wrong reasons. I have a review of it more or less ready and it will show up soon, but damn, I'm sometimes amazed by what kind of monstrosities VN writers can produce. I think I've lost like 10% of my brain cells reading through Shiro's and Megumi's routes. Also had a bitter laugh after learning that ebi-hime wrote Chinatsu's route (it was okay-ish, way above the ones I've already mentioned for sure), not only getting involved in this trainwreck but also having her nick misspelt as "ebi-himi" in the credits. And continuing with ebi-hime, I went back to reading The Language of Love, happily reminding myself what a mature work by a talented writer looks like. It's utterly mundane in its flow and themes, but still manages to be original by tackling the kind of everyday scenarios and characters that aren't usually a part of VN's romantic fantasy, with a struggling single mother and a screw-up in his mid-twenties being at the center of it all. Also, it gave me that awkward moment of realization, that even these unusually old VN lead characters are still six-seven years younger than me. When did that happen?
  44. 3 points

    Fuwanovel Confessions

    Confession: A few months ago I've sent an application to an international fan studies conference in Cracow (an extremely rare occurrence in Poland) with a presentation on visual novel fan translations and the professionalisation of the FTL industry. They were meant to respond before the end of June and my project was a bit against the theme of the conference (it's meant to be about micro-scale fun creativity, while what I'm doing is way more about macro-scale changes within the VN market in the West and the FTL community), so I long stopped waiting for any kind of positive resolution or working on the project. So, today, completely out of the blue, I received a message that my abstract was accepted with all-positive reviews and I still can't decide whether I should be happy or get a heart attack (I might go with both), considering how much I am behind with the work necessary to make it happen. The conference is in mid-October, but that only sounds like a lot of time... Welp, this is going to be an interesting summer. And I'm probably going to spam a lot asking for help and commentary on draft surveys...
  45. 3 points

    What are you playing?

    Done with Little Busters! I finished it off by winning the baseball match, which was surprisingly easy after clearing all routes. When I tried it during my first playthrough, I got my ass handed to me, but now I won without the opposing team scoring a single point. The baseball minigame itself feels like wasted potential. It's fun at its core, but there are two things that ruin it for me: 1. The damn cats. Don't get me wrong, I find it kinda funny how they mess around on the field, but I hate how the gameplay pauses every time one of the cats are hit by a ball, because Rin has to make a comment about it. Considering how often it happens, it gets repetitive really fast and wastes a lot of time. 2. The fact that they use separate windows for the field and where your character is. It can be pretty hard to get the swing timing right, since the ball reaches you basically at the same moment it becomes visible in the character window, and you can't really use the field window as a reference when trying to hit the ball either, due to how zoomed out it is. If they just addressed these things, it would be much more enjoyable. It could actually make for a pretty decent mobile game. Aaanyway... This is most definitely one of my best VN experiences so far. Despite the extensive play time, it managed to keep me entertained for the entirety of the VN, unlike Grisaia no Kajitsu, which I also consider one of my favorite VNs but still frequently lost interest in during the common route. I'm feeling a bit ambiguous about the true ending, though.
  46. 3 points
    "This stick of water with skin is better than this ball of water with skin!"
  47. 3 points
    No, after seeing some horribly drawn genitals in some "demosaiced" versions, I actually also prefer mosaics - better safe than sorry Well, maybe "prefer" would be too strong, but I have nothing against them and they don't bother me. I simply don't "need" demosaiced versions.
  48. 3 points
    Hello, First of all, thank you for your encouragements ^^. Now, as for the patch, well, I do plan on releasing another partial patch. However, at the moment, I do not know when that will be. For the next patch, I want to include our translations of the menu as well, so I'll have to wait for that first. Also, I don't know if I will include all of the story I've translated into the patch. As I've said before, I'll only release a patch if the chapters included in there are playable in English. And well, to release the full story means that pretty much everything else would have to be translated as well. But I'll try to at least include the next chapter and the appends into the next patch.
  49. 3 points
    Idk I think sites like DLsite and DMM look super legit despite the nature of their products.
  50. 3 points