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

Okay, first impressions for キミへ贈る、ソラの花, Kimi e Okuru, Sora no Hana.

So when I first downloaded this game, I was expecting something unique because it uses ghosts as the main theme of the VN. Your generic protagonist can see ghosts, and one day he accepts an offer from a ghost girl to attend a school where half the students are all spirits. So yes, I have found it interesting and decided to try it out.

So let's go straight for the FAULTS of this VN, because I very nearly quit the game - would have, if I hadn't decided to at least play till the end of one route and suddenly found a gem hidden in all these rocks. Now, I'm pretty sure that ten minutes into the game you'll find yourself annoyed by the system of the game. Let's go through them one by one:

1) Long opening delay. This is pretty common in many VNs, but for some reason this VN gave an even worse impression of it. It's probably the somewhat cheap feeling video opening (which was pretty beautiful if you wait it out, but just downright choppy if you decided to click past it).

2) Adjustable window size. Even under normal circumstances this is a hit or miss feature - at least I prefer fixed window size so that I don't need to readjust them - but this VN doesn't even include a return-to-normal-size option. Or at least, it's not obvious and when I first played it I had to spend the first hour just searching for the damn option, and failed. Restarting your computer seems to fix it, but seriously?

3) Exit the game. It's buggy, period. I don't quite remember them now, but you can bug the window to just hang there forever even though you've clicked the X button. And the delay (to allow Matsuri say goodbye to you - sigh. Takes WAY TOO LONG man; personally I would've ommit the entire voice altogether because I just wanna quit the game) when you're trying to quit the game is just plain annoying.

4) Delays in config for voice. I mean seriously, just open the config screen for me while the voice is playing, NOT wait until the voice finish first. In fact almost every option requires around a second delay which just damages the overall experience.

I seldomly find faults in the system category, but this is just riddled with much discomfort and impatience. It was an issue big enough to drain away my initial interest - I should've finished this a month ago >_> - and it needs a FIX.

Next would be art style. It's a hit or miss, but the somewhat chibi art style sprite for some heroines may turn people down. Also, for some reason the graphics feels... I don't know, cheap somehow. Grainy? It's like watching some low quality film; there's just that sense that something is wrong that I can't describe.

Voice is overly sweet for some characters. Some lines are just downright embarrassing, and considering that these characters are actually of appropriate age (since they can be sexed ^^) the forced attempt to make their intellect... questionable is a little hard to swallow.

Also, the story goes pretty slow (and somewhat pointless) for the first hour of the game. I had felt extremely unmotivated to play it because it sounds very nearly like your generic high school romance - it is actually - even though they've ghost heroines in it. Thank god that wasn't the case, but yeah, the first half, I literally cringed as the sugar high voices pierced through my ears. I thought the sprites were turning into rainbow rabbits and ponies.

Now that's done, let's talk about the goods of this VN.

So I'm following a walkthrough, and I've just finished Setka's route. I had NOT expected it to be this good. So Setka is a timid ghost girl who can't remember how she died, and always preferred solitude at the school rooftop than mingling with people. The protagonist made many positive attempts to communicate with her (now THAT'S a man, I like it that the girls don't just fall for you by god's verdict, and the protagonist actually has to make a real effort) and eventually they became friends. In her route however, things went wrong when Setka began to grow obsessed with the protagonist and completely disregard any other people's existence other than him. And considering that she's a ghost, that's pretty darn scary. I won't reveal too much spoilers, but let's just say that the girl had a rather bleak past and she came to recall it over time in this route.

Besides the fact that the storyline was surprisingly good, they actually put a proper effort into crafting the endings. Most heroines have 2 endings, the sister have 1, and Matsuri (supposedly the true heroine I'm guessing) have 3. And from my experience of Setka's route, there are 1 good end and 1 bad end (which meant that Matsuri's probably is good, normal, bad). The bad end is written unexpectedly well as you see the protagonist... well... read it yourself. The good end doesn't just end with the typical 'oh-we-love-each-other-let's-be-together-forever' stuff, but actually reminds readers strongly that these are spirits we are dealing with here. There's a line that you could never cross no matter how you wish for it, and while the ending was not unexpected, it had definitely left a good taste in my mouth. I love it, so I'm going to finish by the walkthrough, each other girl's routes. Originally I had just wanted to play Matsuri's route and that's it, but now that my interest is revived I'd like to see more from this.

Reviews on the characters will be given later on.

Key's "Rewrite", 3 routes, 3 endings so far. Characters listed in spoiler, and may attribute to the thematic ending of their routes.


Long-winded, but doesn't contain nearly as many comedic antics on par with Clannad's Sunohara, or Little Busters! constant antics. Not really disappointing, but it's not too extraordinary either.

The endings I've obtained actually bummed me out more than once, it was either unromantic of an ending, or too damn (justified) sad.


But if Key is doing this on purpose as build up I can understand. After all they did it with Little Busters and Clannad to reveal the "after" tales, even so I'm still a little disappointed because, the routes in Clannad and Little Busters! were still pretty romantic compared to this.

I don't know if it counts as a VN, but currently I'm trying Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. I watched the anime first and, well, I did like it for a while. Then (years later, read: now) I tried the manga, which is AWESOME and so full of crazy it's not even funny. So far (I just started the first Question Arc) the VN isn't anything special and the manga conveys much more the funny-jolly-creepy-freaky atmosphere of the story, let's hope it won't disappoint like the anime.

Really? Higurashi no Naku Koro ni showcases some of the most clever usage of sound effects of its time, and while the 'gore' doesn't compare to the anime - I think they overdid it to the point it's just hilarious -_-" - this IS the original, and thus remains an excellent read that you should go through for the VN's sake.

Continuing from my previous review on Kimi e Okuru, Sora no Hana. This time I'm playing Kanae's route, so let's talk about her briefly. So I'll just state it out bluntly here: I don't like her. Once again I feel strongly about the age gap - supposedly all the heroines are at least 18 years old to obey the law for age of sexual consent, but they just don't feel like it! Kanae's thoughts are extremely childish and innocent that she feels closer to 11 to 15 years old. Her issue basically revolves around seeing one of the ghosts disappear, and that she feared the pain and sadness of living in such an environment because she cares too much. When I put it this way it sounds pretty solemn, but her entire character, starting from her most jarring voice (sorry, I know it's cute, but I just can't stand it for some reason) to the way she ACTIVELY tries to run away from the problem irks me to no end.



However, by no means I am saying that the storyline is bad; this is just my personal prejudice against a character whose weakness was one of the types that I dislike a lot. Again, there wasn't really any surprises in this route but the story was properly told with the message and issue clearly conveyed, which was much better than many other VNs could boast of. Not spectacular, but certainly complete.

Playing Fate/Stay Night after having stopped for a long time for various reasons. Not far into it at all yet, only just learned about the Holy Grail War...

Finished G-Senjou No Maou and it is now currently my number 1, I'm yet to play Muv Luv Alternative, Ever 17 and FSN.

Playing Pastel Chime Continue (Don't ask me why I paused Kimi e Okuru, Sora no Hana, my interest jumps around in weird ways).

This is one of the games I can safely say that Alicesoft did RIGHT. It features a moderately challenging RPG game where the protagonist trains himself up in a school to become an adventurer. I'm not going to bother going through all the details - you can check that at Alicesoft Wikia or just play it - but I'll just briefly go through the goods:

1) A moderately challenging dungeon crawling system. This is not Rance Quest kind of retarded grinding (I'm still pissed at the level reset condition) but just right. The battles are not too hard, there are no job class restriction; you can choose to become a jack of all trades if you like (better don't though for beginners). There are a number of lessons you can choose from to increase your stats and they're all fairly useful no matter what job class you choose.

2) A pretty interesting storyline. Putting the usual tsukomis aside, Pastel Chime Continue has done an EXCELLENT job telling the most relevant bits of the story while adding in a proper mix of humor and moral messages. I especially like how they tell about the story's background slowly through the weekly history class event with no drag-ons or waste. The game never gets too boring as the events played out just right, while still giving you adequate free time to beef up your protagonist and so on. This is impressive.

3) Art style. Let's just say I prefer this game's art as compared to Daiteikoku's. And the fact that they have a plump girl added into the variety is just plus all the way.

4) Voice acting. There are only voices during scripted events, and they are pretty frequent and nice to the ears.

This is worth playing, and the sequel to this game is coming out next month. I'm most definitely going to play it as soon as it comes out. ^_^

Even though I'm just finishing the first question arc, I have do admit, Higurashi is FREAKY!!! D:

The beginning was boring, what with all that cheerful atmosphere and nothing scary happening, then the paranoia kicks in and, well... f*ck. It's almost incredible how the game manages, through sound and words alone, to recreate the creepy atmosphere of the manga and the anime. I guess I can say I'm pleased I tried it, now onwards and let's hope Oyashiro-sama doesn't pay me a visit in the near future...

Now go play Pascha C++...JUST FOR KICKS lol
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Waiting for the 3rd one "Bindseeker" to come out.

Funfact, the Art Style that you mentioned was done by the same illustrator "Onigiri-Kun", and Daiteikoku was a hot pot of All the main illustrators from Alicesoft.

DO NOT PLAY ALTERNATIVE WITHOUT COMPLETING MUV~LUV EXTRA + UNLIMITED.

This is not a joke. You don't need every single girl route done, but you need to have at least completed unlimited and Sumika's route for Extra.

But I highly advise you do complete Extra and Unlimited totally before proceeding to Alternative, it just makes the experience all that much better. Without spoiling, playing all the routes in Extra and Unlimited gives you an extra sense of knowing, without feeling lost or that feeling that you're missing a small detail.

Take your time with Ever17, it actually is gruelingly long, and actually very addicting the deeper you get into it. I've actually got a route or two left in it.

Or at least, don't let Cyndas know that you're too lazy to go through those VNs or he'll eat you alive. ^_^

Do what he says or I really might do that. Alternative was my 4th visual novel after Fate/Stay Night, and G-Senjou No Maou, and Muv~Luvs Extra+Unlimited(If they count as 2, I could throw Utawarerumono in if it doesn't), I have never had such feelings erupt from a VN that intense and satisfying at that level of emotion. Although those other VNs I listed are still in my top 10.

Going into Alternative without Extra+Unlimited is like reading Bleach starting at chapter 300. You understand the basic good and bad sides, and they'll throw a curve ball once in a while you may not understand, but you'll go with it because it sorta makes sense and the good guys are winning somewhat.

Going through Muv-Luv Alternative and I must say that it is a much better VN than its predecessors... prequels? Whatever. Better (i.e. more) animation, surprising twists, a more developed world and characters are but to name a few components. I haven't actually finished it yet, so I'll be back with more details and thoughts.

So overall: I like it. 'Nuff said (Currently my fifth VN, after Fate Stay Night, Utawarerumono, Tsukihime, and Kagetsu Tohya.)

Also going through Steins:Gate - though I haven't actually passed the prologue yet. Above VN usually takes up my time. However, I will admit that the (standard) auto-read function is far too slow for my likes, so I often manually advance.

EDITED-----

I just completed MuvLuv Alternative. Disregard what I said earlier.

The phrase "I like it" does not adequately cover it.

It was fucking amazing. And it truly deserves the expletive.

Luckily you added that edit, or else Cyndas is still going to kill you regardless. XD

I noticed that you used "is" rather than "was". Hmm...

Well, off to Steins:Gate now. Be back after I get a better understanding of it. Or when I'm bored.

Either way.

Gold you will find and a victim you will become.

It gets better after the prologue. When you switch character.

OT: Finished Majikoi, Majikoi S and Tsukihime during this and last month. Tsukihime had the most interesting story. Majikoi just felt like a both of kids playing around on their free time.

I still have routes left on Tsukihime. I'll post my thoughts about them when I'm done.

Okay bitches, Material Braves Ignition and Gears of Dragoon is OUT. If you don't hear from me, that's because I'm gaming to the verge of death. Hopefully MBI isn't a disappointment like the original (even though the gameplay is fantastic - to a point), and I have high expectations for GoD even though it features yet another dungeon crawling system. I guess as long as it's not ToHeart2 RPG style of difficulty and grinding it'll be fine (I absolutely hated the fact that you can't see the enemy's HP and basically just spam spells in the most conservative way until death. 99% it will be yours -_-").

Still running through Rewrite, longer than I expected, but it's pretty good.

Unfortunately so far after(I haven't completed every route yet) 4 Heroine routes, I'm really not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. For me so far it's been;

Little Busters! > Clannad + Tomoyo After > Rewrite
but they're all amazing VNs, I feel this isn't up to par with the others from Key I've read.

Argh. Material Brave Ignition. They've screwed around with the battle mechanics a little. It's still the early phase and I can't say, but I REALLY wish I can cancel like when I was level 40 with items or so. T_T

So I finished the question arcs of Higurashi, all four of 'em. I have to say, who wrote them is evil, especially who wrote Tatarigoroshi-hen (poor Keiichi can't have a break lol). Then again, they were all very good, too bad the fluffy beginning of each arc was a bit boring, but that's just me and my twisted love for grimdark stuff.

Now onwards to Kai, I waited for Meakashi-hen for a long time. *evil smirk*