Zolnir Posts
Since I've officially started to work this week I find myself with a lot less gaming time... still going through some of the VNs that I downloaded, but I might be forced to drop some of them. Here are some that had boasted praising reviewers but in my opinion had great flaws that stifled their supposed appeal.
1) ç¥ç¥ã®æŒå§« -å›ã¨ç´¡ã明日ã¸ã®æŒ. I've gone through some of the songs they put up on YouTube and it appealed to me a lot. The biggest problem here though, is that despite having a rather compelling storyline (I actually did not expect this, but the growing war and how it affected the characters' daily lives subtly was very appealing) and okay-ish soundtracks, it was just too low-budgeted. The art was okay but seemed POOR (as in I can imagine seeing employees of the company fighting each other for a loaf of bread), and some supposedly-voiced dialogues were just never voiced. Of course it's still leagues better than some of the Western games I find in Lemmasoft but heck, I'm tempted to drop it just because of the overall low quality.
2) Natsu no Owari no Nirvana. TAKES. TOO. LONG TO GET TO ITS MAIN POINT! And I haven't made it, mind you, because most of its time were spent on gags and tsukomis and the protagonist suffering what I view as some of the biggest discrimination ever by all the women around him. I've read reviews where this was supposed to be one helluva nukige - which does seem like it (I hope) with all its foreshadowing BUT BURIED AMONG THOSE FUCKING GAGS - but damn, I'm losing my patience FAST.
3) Dies Ares series. Will probably drop it altogether because of ridiculously long philosophy talks and battle descriptions. I mean, it's cool to be detailed but when you spent the LAST 30 MINUTES TALKING ABOUT NOTHING BUT PHILOSOPHY SHIT IT GETS BORING! LIKE! HELL!
EDIT: Updated 4)! =3
4) Kimi e Okuru, Sora no Hana. Probably doesn't deserve to be here actually since the story it offers is admittedly quite interesting (and with ghost heroines as a theme), but as I've mentioned before (I think?) there are some system problems that could diminish its appeal: such as prolonged delays when entering settings and changing options. The visuals are also... how to say, grainy? Feels like I could make out pixels for some reason.
1) ç¥ç¥ã®æŒå§« -å›ã¨ç´¡ã明日ã¸ã®æŒ. I've gone through some of the songs they put up on YouTube and it appealed to me a lot. The biggest problem here though, is that despite having a rather compelling storyline (I actually did not expect this, but the growing war and how it affected the characters' daily lives subtly was very appealing) and okay-ish soundtracks, it was just too low-budgeted. The art was okay but seemed POOR (as in I can imagine seeing employees of the company fighting each other for a loaf of bread), and some supposedly-voiced dialogues were just never voiced. Of course it's still leagues better than some of the Western games I find in Lemmasoft but heck, I'm tempted to drop it just because of the overall low quality.
2) Natsu no Owari no Nirvana. TAKES. TOO. LONG TO GET TO ITS MAIN POINT! And I haven't made it, mind you, because most of its time were spent on gags and tsukomis and the protagonist suffering what I view as some of the biggest discrimination ever by all the women around him. I've read reviews where this was supposed to be one helluva nukige - which does seem like it (I hope) with all its foreshadowing BUT BURIED AMONG THOSE FUCKING GAGS - but damn, I'm losing my patience FAST.
3) Dies Ares series. Will probably drop it altogether because of ridiculously long philosophy talks and battle descriptions. I mean, it's cool to be detailed but when you spent the LAST 30 MINUTES TALKING ABOUT NOTHING BUT PHILOSOPHY SHIT IT GETS BORING! LIKE! HELL!
EDIT: Updated 4)! =3
4) Kimi e Okuru, Sora no Hana. Probably doesn't deserve to be here actually since the story it offers is admittedly quite interesting (and with ghost heroines as a theme), but as I've mentioned before (I think?) there are some system problems that could diminish its appeal: such as prolonged delays when entering settings and changing options. The visuals are also... how to say, grainy? Feels like I could make out pixels for some reason.
@castor212 I forgot to mention that Analogue: A Hate Story is one of the five to six Western-made Visual Novels that I approve of. I'm not sure if you would find the format interesting (it is to me as an IT guy) but you should check it out.
As far as I know Dischan is the absolute top of Western Visual Novels. They had the luck to recruit both Doomfest and CombatPlayer, which are both excellent makers and looked to have great potential for growth in the future. The only problem they have - like they always did - was that the Visual Novels take one helluva time to make. >_>
Can't say for the text. Interesting sure, but not necessarily stuff that I can't find elsewhere. I believe - beat me into a pulp if the author IS Aura - that Aura, the writer of Rin's route in KS is better than the Dysfunctional Systems author.
As for the profiles, you may make an extra one if you like. I anticipate that the DS would ultimately end with at least 4 to 5 different endings, but for Episode 1 only 2 profiles are needed (since there's 2 different outcomes).
I await the day Winter become as cynical as Cyrus or worse, the destroyer of worlds! MUAHAHAHAHAHA *stomp inner demon into shreds*
Can't say for the text. Interesting sure, but not necessarily stuff that I can't find elsewhere. I believe - beat me into a pulp if the author IS Aura - that Aura, the writer of Rin's route in KS is better than the Dysfunctional Systems author.
As for the profiles, you may make an extra one if you like. I anticipate that the DS would ultimately end with at least 4 to 5 different endings, but for Episode 1 only 2 profiles are needed (since there's 2 different outcomes).
I await the day Winter become as cynical as Cyrus or worse, the destroyer of worlds! MUAHAHAHAHAHA *stomp inner demon into shreds*
Yosh, just finished Root Double. They really aren't lying when they say it's freaking 50+ hours long; this took me 3 days+ of 16 hours play even with a walkthrough and various skipping of bad ends (most of them are kind of stupid >_>).
As usual, let's go with the plot first. Basically you'll play through 4 routes titled After, Before, Current and Double in that order to learn the entire story. There are two protagonists - the Rescue Team Leader, Watase and the Communicator high school student Natsuhiko whose point of view would tell the story and eventually the truth as everything is slowly pieced together, one by one like a puzzle.
I'm not going to spoiler anything, but let it be known (... wait a second did I just use an Umineko reference?) that this is a more emotional-fueled story as compared to the Infinity series (as in the logic build up and scientific theories are much more persuasive). I shed tears at the ending of Before; it was really touching (though of course... ~_~). One of the unique traits of this game - or should I say an accumulated fault actually - is that you would spend 70% of the read time reading into every characters' pasts and memories. After and Double are practically the only routes that talk about the 'present' (and in Double you still spend more time in the past than present - play it and you'd get what I mean), whereas Before is the story, from Natsuhiko's point of view, of the 6 days before the Incident, and Current is simply a retelling of After also from Natsuhiko's POV.
In a sense, I've never read a more emotionally complete Visual Novel in my life - there's always some regrets here, a little dissatisfaction there that a certain character did not get enough attention etc - but Root Double covers all 9 people's pasts, stories, motives and feelings in a most masterful manner. Unfortunately readers may sometimes be plagued by the fact that they're spending way too much time looking backwards when all they want is to know what happens next, but this is ultimately a subjective matter.
While the plot is certainly not all that unfamiliar, I'm surprised at how accurate the writer manage to pinpoint an emotion (though in retrospect I can't imagine anyone who wrote this to be any less sensitive). The crisis, climax and aftermath was exactly as the writer said in one of the character's lines, "It's as if I woke up from a very long nightmare". I'll leave everything else to imagination; I really can't imagine spoiling anything about this awesome story.
Characters. I don't really need to say anything, but heck, I read so many things about all 9 characters that I feel sick from overload. Rest assured that no one gets left behind, and you'll be smashed in the face with everything you ever want to know about your most hated guy/girl until you want to knock yourself silly. :P
Art wise it's not special but definitely well made. Honestly I don't have much to say about this except that it's a fucking pain in the arse trying to collect all of dem CGs even with a walkthrough to follow. Gawd. >_<
Music, same impression. The final song at the end is certainly beautiful, but I find the OP Song Terminus from Dsyfunctional Systems to be far more effective and touching. Then again, Dischan is made up by a bunch of geniuses. Still, they are definitely not bad at all.
Systems. First, the Sense Sympathy System is kind of troublesome to use but ties in very well with the plot, so no problemo. Second, I kind of like how they hint that: Finally, the Save System can be a little tricky to use since you have to save a lot of times, so be careful is all that I can say.
In short, Root Double scores 8.7 out of 10 from me. Most of the time the story didn't really surprise me - not even close when you compare it with the shock I experienced reading through epics like Ever 17 or Remember 11, especially Remember fucking 11 >_> - and if you pay attention it's easy to realize what the many hidden truths. Or if I put it bluntly, IT'S NOT EVEN A CHALLENGE; TRY ME HARDER! :D One hint - though it may come of as spoiler-ish, so I'll spoiler it accordingly:
And that's it for today.
EDIT: Dysfunctional Systems Complete Review. I just couldn't resist. T_T
Originally I didn't mean to write this since I already had one (first impressions) completed at another forum, but after having the game literally haunting the corners of my mind for days even when I'm playing Root Double, I decided to get this out.
Before I start, note that if you are a fan of Katawa Shoujo or one of its artist Doomfest, then you really shouldn't miss out on this game. The game was declared to have 5 Episodes in total, and Episode 1 takes about two hours to complete - though it could be shorter depending on your reading speed. You can buy it for $5, and its definitely worth in my opinion every penny you spent.
Now then. Dysfunctional Systems Episode 1 - Learning to Manage Chaos describes the journey of the newbie mediator Winter as she travels to many different worlds trying to resolve their plaguing issues, and ultimately saving them from chaos. In this Episode 1, Winter and her mentor Cyrus lands on the system Sule (more specifically, the Brighton colony) in attempt to figure out and avert the increasingly dangerous tension between the 3 major colonies of the Sule. Currently there are only 2 Endings in Episode 1, though there would be, I guess, more different outcomes in future Episodes.
Unfortunately this review would seemed incomplete if I do not at least include my heartfelt impressions, but I'm spoilering them all because they contain massive spoilers. I repeat, if you had not played the game, please do NOT read the below spoilered texts.
From here on the review would be spoiler-less, so feel free to read them:
Story - Really, if you've read above then there is nothing else that I could say. Otherwise, good GOD I need far more than just two hours of gameplay dammit! WHEN IS THE NEXT EPISODE!?
Art - Holy shit. No Doomfest, no Dysfunctional Systems, no success. I have said it before, but the art is so hauntingly beautiful that I could not imagine this game in any other light but his. There're also various guest arts (actually there's more of these than actual CGs, so grumble grumble) included and needless to say they are a wonderful treat.
Music - Salute to CombatPlayer, and sheeeet I can't believe I actually bought music for the second time in my entire life (Note: Not the one that comes with the game). Maintenance, Terminus and Cado Astrum are absolutely golden, and none of the other soundtracks sound like your generic bullshit. Sure, Analysis sounds kind of weird at the beginning, but like, you know, PEOPLE I JUST BOUGHT MUSIC! ME! LIKE WTF!?
Presentation - Almost perfect. I mean, I seriously could not say anything but this if I want to keep this section spoiler-less; just go play the goddamn game already lol.
System - This I have some complains. First, the general outlook of the game can look rather blurry due to its kinda-abstract art, which is fine, but not when all the text looks blurry as well. Next, when viewing CGs in the Extras section, the hotkeys slightly differs from that of a common Japanese PC Visual Novel so it could be confusing. The Codex section text can be too small for some people to read. Lastly, the Jukebox could've offered more play options such as Loop all songs or something.
All in all a 9.2 out of 10, and once again kudos to Dischan; they are certainly the best Western Visual Novel creators out there right now. If you're seeing this guys, can't wait for Cradle Song to come out - hopefully :P - this year. Good job, good luck, and good night everyone~
As usual, let's go with the plot first. Basically you'll play through 4 routes titled After, Before, Current and Double in that order to learn the entire story. There are two protagonists - the Rescue Team Leader, Watase and the Communicator high school student Natsuhiko whose point of view would tell the story and eventually the truth as everything is slowly pieced together, one by one like a puzzle.
I'm not going to spoiler anything, but let it be known (... wait a second did I just use an Umineko reference?) that this is a more emotional-fueled story as compared to the Infinity series (as in the logic build up and scientific theories are much more persuasive). I shed tears at the ending of Before; it was really touching (though of course... ~_~). One of the unique traits of this game - or should I say an accumulated fault actually - is that you would spend 70% of the read time reading into every characters' pasts and memories. After and Double are practically the only routes that talk about the 'present' (and in Double you still spend more time in the past than present - play it and you'd get what I mean), whereas Before is the story, from Natsuhiko's point of view, of the 6 days before the Incident, and Current is simply a retelling of After also from Natsuhiko's POV.
In a sense, I've never read a more emotionally complete Visual Novel in my life - there's always some regrets here, a little dissatisfaction there that a certain character did not get enough attention etc - but Root Double covers all 9 people's pasts, stories, motives and feelings in a most masterful manner. Unfortunately readers may sometimes be plagued by the fact that they're spending way too much time looking backwards when all they want is to know what happens next, but this is ultimately a subjective matter.
While the plot is certainly not all that unfamiliar, I'm surprised at how accurate the writer manage to pinpoint an emotion (though in retrospect I can't imagine anyone who wrote this to be any less sensitive). The crisis, climax and aftermath was exactly as the writer said in one of the character's lines, "It's as if I woke up from a very long nightmare". I'll leave everything else to imagination; I really can't imagine spoiling anything about this awesome story.
Characters. I don't really need to say anything, but heck, I read so many things about all 9 characters that I feel sick from overload. Rest assured that no one gets left behind, and you'll be smashed in the face with everything you ever want to know about your most hated guy/girl until you want to knock yourself silly. :P
Art wise it's not special but definitely well made. Honestly I don't have much to say about this except that it's a fucking pain in the arse trying to collect all of dem CGs even with a walkthrough to follow. Gawd. >_<
Music, same impression. The final song at the end is certainly beautiful, but I find the OP Song Terminus from Dsyfunctional Systems to be far more effective and touching. Then again, Dischan is made up by a bunch of geniuses. Still, they are definitely not bad at all.
Systems. First, the Sense Sympathy System is kind of troublesome to use but ties in very well with the plot, so no problemo. Second, I kind of like how they hint that:
Spoiler:
In short, Root Double scores 8.7 out of 10 from me. Most of the time the story didn't really surprise me - not even close when you compare it with the shock I experienced reading through epics like Ever 17 or Remember 11, especially Remember fucking 11 >_> - and if you pay attention it's easy to realize what the many hidden truths. Or if I put it bluntly, IT'S NOT EVEN A CHALLENGE; TRY ME HARDER! :D One hint - though it may come of as spoiler-ish, so I'll spoiler it accordingly:
Spoiler:
And that's it for today.
EDIT: Dysfunctional Systems Complete Review. I just couldn't resist. T_T
Originally I didn't mean to write this since I already had one (first impressions) completed at another forum, but after having the game literally haunting the corners of my mind for days even when I'm playing Root Double, I decided to get this out.
Before I start, note that if you are a fan of Katawa Shoujo or one of its artist Doomfest, then you really shouldn't miss out on this game. The game was declared to have 5 Episodes in total, and Episode 1 takes about two hours to complete - though it could be shorter depending on your reading speed. You can buy it for $5, and its definitely worth in my opinion every penny you spent.
Now then. Dysfunctional Systems Episode 1 - Learning to Manage Chaos describes the journey of the newbie mediator Winter as she travels to many different worlds trying to resolve their plaguing issues, and ultimately saving them from chaos. In this Episode 1, Winter and her mentor Cyrus lands on the system Sule (more specifically, the Brighton colony) in attempt to figure out and avert the increasingly dangerous tension between the 3 major colonies of the Sule. Currently there are only 2 Endings in Episode 1, though there would be, I guess, more different outcomes in future Episodes.
Unfortunately this review would seemed incomplete if I do not at least include my heartfelt impressions, but I'm spoilering them all because they contain massive spoilers. I repeat, if you had not played the game, please do NOT read the below spoilered texts.
Spoiler:
From here on the review would be spoiler-less, so feel free to read them:
Story - Really, if you've read above then there is nothing else that I could say. Otherwise, good GOD I need far more than just two hours of gameplay dammit! WHEN IS THE NEXT EPISODE!?
Art - Holy shit. No Doomfest, no Dysfunctional Systems, no success. I have said it before, but the art is so hauntingly beautiful that I could not imagine this game in any other light but his. There're also various guest arts (actually there's more of these than actual CGs, so grumble grumble) included and needless to say they are a wonderful treat.
Music - Salute to CombatPlayer, and sheeeet I can't believe I actually bought music for the second time in my entire life (Note: Not the one that comes with the game). Maintenance, Terminus and Cado Astrum are absolutely golden, and none of the other soundtracks sound like your generic bullshit. Sure, Analysis sounds kind of weird at the beginning, but like, you know, PEOPLE I JUST BOUGHT MUSIC! ME! LIKE WTF!?
Presentation - Almost perfect. I mean, I seriously could not say anything but this if I want to keep this section spoiler-less; just go play the goddamn game already lol.
System - This I have some complains. First, the general outlook of the game can look rather blurry due to its kinda-abstract art, which is fine, but not when all the text looks blurry as well. Next, when viewing CGs in the Extras section, the hotkeys slightly differs from that of a common Japanese PC Visual Novel so it could be confusing. The Codex section text can be too small for some people to read. Lastly, the Jukebox could've offered more play options such as Loop all songs or something.
All in all a 9.2 out of 10, and once again kudos to Dischan; they are certainly the best Western Visual Novel creators out there right now. If you're seeing this guys, can't wait for Cradle Song to come out - hopefully :P - this year. Good job, good luck, and good night everyone~
First im... nah, too early to say anything yet. I'm just going to ask a question that's been bugging me a little twenty minutes into Root Double.
Is this world related to 999? There are certain keywords such as, wait for it, '9'! and telepathy talks that made me think that...
Also, I suddenly recall another Visual Novel that's also written (I guess? I just know it's definitely related to the creators of Ever 17) by the same author, but it's on PSP. Synopsis is about a group of people working together and trying to escape their imprisonment, but little did they know that they DID manage to escape before, they just don't remember it. Some sort of twisted experiment or something.
And I wanna read it. =3 Is there anyway to keep track of all the VNs that's er, made? written? by dem creators?
Is this world related to 999? There are certain keywords such as, wait for it, '9'! and telepathy talks that made me think that...
Also, I suddenly recall another Visual Novel that's also written (I guess? I just know it's definitely related to the creators of Ever 17) by the same author, but it's on PSP. Synopsis is about a group of people working together and trying to escape their imprisonment, but little did they know that they DID manage to escape before, they just don't remember it. Some sort of twisted experiment or something.
And I wanna read it. =3 Is there anyway to keep track of all the VNs that's er, made? written? by dem creators?
Thanks amorim, glad to know that my reviews have at least one loyal reader. =P
First impression on Dysfunctional Systems:
Very, very impressive work by the folks in Dischan. I've always viewed them as highly talented individuals (ex: Doomfest's growth is unbelievably fast and more importantly, original) but this Episode 1 of theirs really got my heart. I'm absolutely not going to spoiler anything, but here's what I generally think about each aspects of the game:
Story - draws you in like the gravitational pull of a blooming star. It's been a while since I find myself reading something with such eagerness and intensity. The prologue scenario is just fabulous; you guys really should get a copy of the game ASAP. It's only 5 USD, and it comes with the complete soundtrack too! Where on earth do you find such a valuable buy (well I know one, but humor me here >_>)?
Gameplay: Consist of the classic yet irremovable choice system. The difference here is that the choices you make here are... empowering. Important. EXCITING. From the synopsis you should know that Winter is some sort of a meditator, and this is exactly what you're doing: to figure out the problem, seek for alternatives and solutions, and lay them out for all to see as you challenge the other into a fight of perspectives. Man, they nailed this, guys, I'm telling you, they NAILED THIS.
Music: Hmm. Since Katawa Shoujo I've expected great things from them, and they did - the music blended perfectly with the supposed background while still managing to sound original. But I dislike that static-ish sound in some of the soundtracks, including the one at the title screen since it makes me doubt whether my headphone's working properly A LOT, but that's about all the faults I can say about them. Can't say I'm not feeling like buying a new one though when my first paycheck comes out...
Visuals: Anyone who've seen Doomfest's work would know that they can be somewhat... abstract (not sure if right word)? And blurry at times. Which is fine, but somehow I think that transferred to the text themselves for some reason and I believe overall they could use a little more sharpness.
System: Well, it seems they got the essentials down in the Config section and are trying to keep the UI simplified; many VNs ARE plagued with the problem where it's either too complicated or has many unnecessary functions. I guessing that they're just lazy though; it's hard to say with Dischan's group of goldfishes nishishishishi!
Well anyway, that's all for now. I regret fucking up my phone verification yesterday and was forced to delay from reading this awesome VN by one day. Make sure you guys - any of you who hasn't gotten it yet or seen the news - don't make the same mistake!
EDIT: Uh, wow, this is really short. Make this a full review instead, since 'first impression' is about all I could get from this kind of length. Below are the several extra things that I'd like to add:
1) I find that the controls in the Galleries section (this isn't the actual option name, but since they have Illustration and Concept Art as different options...) a bit hard to get used to, so I wonder if they're gonna fix that in the next Episode or just leave it be.
2) There are some bonus soundtracks in the Jukebox so don't miss them out! But I suppose that since you can download the soundtracks themselves it doesn't matter...
3) I'm begging here: Has anyone managed to get the final CG yet? I'm almost 100% sure that it requires perfect answers to the gameplay choices, but there's no telling. Please post them here if you found out how!
First impression on Dysfunctional Systems:
Very, very impressive work by the folks in Dischan. I've always viewed them as highly talented individuals (ex: Doomfest's growth is unbelievably fast and more importantly, original) but this Episode 1 of theirs really got my heart. I'm absolutely not going to spoiler anything, but here's what I generally think about each aspects of the game:
Story - draws you in like the gravitational pull of a blooming star. It's been a while since I find myself reading something with such eagerness and intensity. The prologue scenario is just fabulous; you guys really should get a copy of the game ASAP. It's only 5 USD, and it comes with the complete soundtrack too! Where on earth do you find such a valuable buy (well I know one, but humor me here >_>)?
Gameplay: Consist of the classic yet irremovable choice system. The difference here is that the choices you make here are... empowering. Important. EXCITING. From the synopsis you should know that Winter is some sort of a meditator, and this is exactly what you're doing: to figure out the problem, seek for alternatives and solutions, and lay them out for all to see as you challenge the other into a fight of perspectives. Man, they nailed this, guys, I'm telling you, they NAILED THIS.
Music: Hmm. Since Katawa Shoujo I've expected great things from them, and they did - the music blended perfectly with the supposed background while still managing to sound original. But I dislike that static-ish sound in some of the soundtracks, including the one at the title screen since it makes me doubt whether my headphone's working properly A LOT, but that's about all the faults I can say about them. Can't say I'm not feeling like buying a new one though when my first paycheck comes out...
Visuals: Anyone who've seen Doomfest's work would know that they can be somewhat... abstract (not sure if right word)? And blurry at times. Which is fine, but somehow I think that transferred to the text themselves for some reason and I believe overall they could use a little more sharpness.
System: Well, it seems they got the essentials down in the Config section and are trying to keep the UI simplified; many VNs ARE plagued with the problem where it's either too complicated or has many unnecessary functions. I guessing that they're just lazy though; it's hard to say with Dischan's group of goldfishes nishishishishi!
Well anyway, that's all for now. I regret fucking up my phone verification yesterday and was forced to delay from reading this awesome VN by one day. Make sure you guys - any of you who hasn't gotten it yet or seen the news - don't make the same mistake!
EDIT: Uh, wow, this is really short. Make this a full review instead, since 'first impression' is about all I could get from this kind of length. Below are the several extra things that I'd like to add:
1) I find that the controls in the Galleries section (this isn't the actual option name, but since they have Illustration and Concept Art as different options...) a bit hard to get used to, so I wonder if they're gonna fix that in the next Episode or just leave it be.
2) There are some bonus soundtracks in the Jukebox so don't miss them out! But I suppose that since you can download the soundtracks themselves it doesn't matter...
3) I'm begging here: Has anyone managed to get the final CG yet? I'm almost 100% sure that it requires perfect answers to the gameplay choices, but there's no telling. Please post them here if you found out how!
Mirai Sekai no Planeta. I'm going to state this right out: I have no idea how poor or understaffed or whatever this company's going through, but Mirai Sekai no Planeta is probably one of the biggest bullshit Visual Novels I've played so far to date. I'm not even going to think; this gets a 3 and that's it.
Let's see the lists of its horrendous faults one by one:
1) Very Buggy. Up till now I can count with one hand the number of Visual Novels that has very obvious bugs (more specifically animation and scene transition problems) but Mirai Sekai no Planeta is the only one that has so many problems. Off background positioning, transition effect mistake (for example in Sayaka route, there is one scene where a one-time effect as repeated again and again for no reason), missing VOICES in supposedly voiced lines - I don't care what they say; this are all problems that should've been fixed during the debugging process.
2) Horrendous script writing. At first, I was impressed by the writer's bold attempt to cut through all the typical text fillers (you know, all those overly length introductory scenes, unnecessary tsukomis and hair draggingly long descriptions?) and went straight to the heart of the story. In fact, from what I've read I believe that was the original intent. However the more I read the more obvious it becomes that the writer suffered heavily from lazy writing and did basically what I'd call 'crap on paper'.
Here is what I think about each route (except Ranka, she's the type I hate so I skipped her):
General:
Konatsu: You'll default to her if you didn't choose to go anyone's route; that's how I came by her the first time I play the game. Since I did not go through her choices, it makes no sense whatsoever how the protagonist ever came to fell in love with her. It just... happened. Oh, and her scenario is bullshit. The climax was one of the most nonsensical bullshit I've ever read because
Choko: Hey guys, this is a Visual Novel that has a True Route (Naruko's), and they had the fucking NERVES to end her route with a 'To be continued'! I personally like her art design, but again, Libre, FUCK. YOU.
Sayaka: I'm actually unsure whether hers or Naruko's is the True Route since Sayaka gets an exclusive Special scenario for herself, but whatever. It is the most detailed, complete and satisfying out of all the routes (yes, the judgment includes the true route). Not only Sayaka was a very cool heroine (except for that one moment she. But 2 bugs that I found was on her route - it's like Libre's is TRYING to distribute the stupidity equally on everything - so, shit, it REALLY wasn't cool at all.
Naruko: All the bones were in place except the meat. This time the protagonist actually remembered her properly (GASP even though he couldn't fucking recognize the girl when they're in the museum, and every other route as well!), but sadly that was about the only pleasant thing I can remember. The scene where they admitted their love to each other? And oh, the climatic boss fight? To put it bluntly, it was too short that it became anti-climatic. Not that there was anything to feel exciting in the first place. And why the fuck does AI Bots taunt like a real thug and scream humanly when they die?
In short? Lazy, lazy, lazy bullshit.
3) Okay art but subpar presentation. This is more of a subjective opinion, but I believe that even some throwaway, shitty, no quality VNs (ex: Justy x Nasty. Better art, better presentation, but also very shit so don't play it period) used. More than once I feel like the programmer's just testing around with ideas and put it experimental background pannings and zooms. Sprite handling is also horrible; they didn't even handle the zooming problem properly (such as using a higher resolution sprite so that when zoomed in, sprite is not too blurred). A lot of stuff felt so newbie that I could almost pity the bastard.
4) But I could not pity Libre, all for that one single reason. Now, I'm supposing that most of you here are men, and if you're a girl just pretend you never saw this because I have no idea how you feel about certain things. But I am very, VERY damn sure that most people would feel extremely offended, when you are introduced to a sub character whose presence warranted absolutely NO sprite at all - but still given one AND dressed up as a homosexual for whatever reason (disclaimer: I hold no prejudice whatsoever towards another's sexual preference)... by his mother, fucking, DICK.
No, seriously, I meant it literally. I wonder which idiot's idea it is to ZOOM IN and STAB that... thing at the player's face a couple of times before panning over to show the whole character. I'll leave it to your imagination before I would like to forget about it as soon as possible. Scratch my earlier score, I'm giving this game a fucking 2.
Now we talk about the positive, the ONLY positive thing about the game. Mirai Sekai no Planeta has some beautiful soundtracks - unbelievable honestly, after all that bullshit I was put through - that really sooth the ears, and by the gods I'll even say that one of them (Name's too long; it's the very 1st soundtrack in the Extras) is my absolute favorite. If only they put an equal amount of effort into everything else in the game. -_-"
Let's see the lists of its horrendous faults one by one:
1) Very Buggy. Up till now I can count with one hand the number of Visual Novels that has very obvious bugs (more specifically animation and scene transition problems) but Mirai Sekai no Planeta is the only one that has so many problems. Off background positioning, transition effect mistake (for example in Sayaka route, there is one scene where a one-time effect as repeated again and again for no reason), missing VOICES in supposedly voiced lines - I don't care what they say; this are all problems that should've been fixed during the debugging process.
2) Horrendous script writing. At first, I was impressed by the writer's bold attempt to cut through all the typical text fillers (you know, all those overly length introductory scenes, unnecessary tsukomis and hair draggingly long descriptions?) and went straight to the heart of the story. In fact, from what I've read I believe that was the original intent. However the more I read the more obvious it becomes that the writer suffered heavily from lazy writing and did basically what I'd call 'crap on paper'.
Here is what I think about each route (except Ranka, she's the type I hate so I skipped her):
General:
Konatsu: You'll default to her if you didn't choose to go anyone's route; that's how I came by her the first time I play the game. Since I did not go through her choices, it makes no sense whatsoever how the protagonist ever came to fell in love with her. It just... happened. Oh, and her scenario is bullshit. The climax was one of the most nonsensical bullshit I've ever read because
Spoiler:
Choko: Hey guys, this is a Visual Novel that has a True Route (Naruko's), and they had the fucking NERVES to end her route with a 'To be continued'! I personally like her art design, but again, Libre, FUCK. YOU.
Sayaka: I'm actually unsure whether hers or Naruko's is the True Route since Sayaka gets an exclusive Special scenario for herself, but whatever. It is the most detailed, complete and satisfying out of all the routes (yes, the judgment includes the true route). Not only Sayaka was a very cool heroine (except for that one moment she
Spoiler:
Naruko: All the bones were in place except the meat. This time the protagonist actually remembered her properly (GASP even though he couldn't fucking recognize the girl when they're in the museum, and every other route as well!), but sadly that was about the only pleasant thing I can remember. The scene where they admitted their love to each other?
Spoiler:
In short? Lazy, lazy, lazy bullshit.
3) Okay art but subpar presentation. This is more of a subjective opinion, but I believe that even some throwaway, shitty, no quality VNs (ex: Justy x Nasty. Better art, better presentation, but also very shit so don't play it period) used. More than once I feel like the programmer's just testing around with ideas and put it experimental background pannings and zooms. Sprite handling is also horrible; they didn't even handle the zooming problem properly (such as using a higher resolution sprite so that when zoomed in, sprite is not too blurred). A lot of stuff felt so newbie that I could almost pity the bastard.
4) But I could not pity Libre, all for that one single reason. Now, I'm supposing that most of you here are men, and if you're a girl just pretend you never saw this because I have no idea how you feel about certain things. But I am very, VERY damn sure that most people would feel extremely offended, when you are introduced to a sub character whose presence warranted absolutely NO sprite at all - but still given one AND dressed up as a homosexual for whatever reason (disclaimer: I hold no prejudice whatsoever towards another's sexual preference)... by his mother, fucking, DICK.
No, seriously, I meant it literally. I wonder which idiot's idea it is to ZOOM IN and STAB that... thing at the player's face a couple of times before panning over to show the whole character. I'll leave it to your imagination before I would like to forget about it as soon as possible. Scratch my earlier score, I'm giving this game a fucking 2.
Now we talk about the positive, the ONLY positive thing about the game. Mirai Sekai no Planeta has some beautiful soundtracks - unbelievable honestly, after all that bullshit I was put through - that really sooth the ears, and by the gods I'll even say that one of them (Name's too long; it's the very 1st soundtrack in the Extras) is my absolute favorite. If only they put an equal amount of effort into everything else in the game. -_-"
Lol shit, I seriously fell for it until I read the comments (since it shows April 2nd due to time difference). I would rather kill myself if the hentai mangas I read here got leaked to the public >_>...
8.5. Like you said, the art is pretty poor and the reverse rape would kill any heterosexual boner in the world, but that's about all the faults I could find in this game.
castor212 wrote...
Zolnir wrote...
I'll say that the quality of plot for Monmusu Quest far exceed most of the Fantasy/Sword/Monster-themed VNs out there. Setting Type-Moon aside of course (most of their stuff could shame writers into sewers).Can you give me a quick review of notable things from the plot?
That pretty much guarantee spoilers though... You really want me to say them? Also, it's really hard to present in a review just how entertaining it is without saying, 'you should just play it' lol.
I suppose one of them would be how they handled 'Murder' as a moral theme very successfully. Another one would be the exploration; god, it REALLY felt like an epic adventure and not some slaying dragon classics.
I'll say that the quality of plot for Monmusu Quest far exceed most of the Fantasy/Sword/Monster-themed VNs out there. Setting Type-Moon aside of course (most of their stuff could shame writers into sewers).
For that route only I guess. I found out that the point of that Jewel was to get the Rope, which in turn used to get the Silver Medal, so I did that and basically completed all the other ends of Mitsuru/Eriko route. Hopefully I got it correct though. >_>
EDIT:
Well I played this Visual Novel under recommendation of a good friend, and overall it was immensely satisfying and very interactive. Still, this is not without flaws as I'd now state here both the goods and the bads of this VN.
So first, although YU-NO is made at 1996 by no means this is meant for casual readers. In fact, put on your professor's glasses because it involves one helluva knowledge bomb (especially during the Epilogue) that would confuse you horribly with complicated scientific terms and theories. Since this involves one of the writers (I think?) of the infamous Ever 17 after all it is not unexpected, but still. Confusing.
It is not a poor plot (again I must say that it is satisfying overall) but it suffers immensely from several factors:
1) Too short. You'll learn a lot about the characters during the short 3 days (after repeating a million times of playthrough I find it hard NOT to understand them) and the Epilogue, but heck, this needs to be longer. Only a few characters get the proper amount of exposure they needed, and there are a surprising amount of number of them.
2) Poor explanation of origins and characters. I can't put too much here without spoiling the experience, but basically the origins of many characters - as well as the just wasn't explained thoroughly enough. We have It just wasn't enough; it's like the VN is trying to squeeze in too many things and succeeded only at laying the foundation and not much of everything else.
3) And this leads to point number 3. YU-NO ultimately reads like the prequel of something big. I can easily imagine this being the Mother of one helluva epic story and following sequels with many, many worlds and possibilities branching out to be something... awesome. A Root of Origin. But heck, since there never was a sequel to the VN, all of its potential and possibilities were simply wasted. It is a prequel to nothing at all, and that feels really, really sad.
So onto the other faults (though they can count as good) of the VN. The Jewel Save system is kind of a dual-nature feature where it is both extremely cool and FUCKING ANNOYING to use when playing YU-NO. I was the lucky guy who used THREE WALKTHROUGHS (1 image map and 2 texts) to play the game, and I can't imagine how many years of life the original players lost just to try and beat the game, much less achieving 100% clear. That being said, by the end of the game you'll be able to go through every single PATH you want with eyes half closed... since you've them completely memorized through countless playthroughs.
The time map is near useless, but that's from a 2013 point of view. I'm guessing that during 1996 it's the only thing that kept the guys going without completely exploding and spitting blood on the producers. It does a good job of showing you where you are, where the Jewels might be, the branching of paths, and Endings in a very simplified style. Heck, it might even be a real model actually used by researchers, who knows?
All in all this is a good VN, recommended for play (I'm going to enjoy your suffering VERY. MUCH.), and deserve a 7.5 out of 10 for its worth. No 8 because my dear Kanna-chan was defiled and relegated to a sub character despite her prophetic appearances throughout the game. Middle finger!
EDIT 2: ミライセカイã®ãƒ—ラãƒãƒƒã‚¿ First Impression.
So I thought I'd give this VN a try since it introduces a less-than-common IT/Virtual Reality setting, but boy was I disappointed (Konatsu route finished only).
So first, the story is told in a very fast pace. Way too fast, so fast that I thought that I must've gotten a fake version which has cut out portions to intentionally screw with people. To put it bluntly, I have no idea when my protagonist fell in love with the heroine, no idea that they actually defeated (I thought it was just chased away, but oh my fuck shit it was dead??) the culprit of the Ghost Incident (which was:, no idea why a dog who was supposed to be dead ages ago came back at that one moment to save the protagonist, then disappear for real permanently this time. Bullshit. Bullshit I'm telling you.
There were times when a certain scene should provoke a reaction from the characters, but they never showed any hint of it. For example, the black, eye-patch girl was the 'ghost' the protagonist saw during the 'Breakdown' disaster, but he didn't recognize her at all. There were many, many other unexplainable scenes that pisses me off as well.
Also, the game is buggy. There was a time where the background image was out of position, and another where the transition went completely crazy and... I don't even know how to describe what happen.
I understand that this company Libre probably don't earn much and hence most of their presentation and art are sub par, which is fine, but what the heck, at least make sure your game is BUGLESS and DOES NOT SOMETIMES (due to incomprehensibly script skip and super fast story progression - for example, I faced a demon. next line 'I beat the demon' like WTF) READ WORSE THAN PURE SHIT VNS LIKE JUSTY X NASTY.
I'm going to go through all the other routes (since it seems a requirement to reach true end), but if this bullshit keeps up I might just drop it altogether. It's only the interesting setting (even though it's horribly inaccurate and illogical sometimes) that kept me reading.
EDIT 2: Holy SHIT I'm amazed how fucked up this VN can be. Konatsu's route is complete bullshit, I have no idea about Ranka since she's the type I really hate, Sayaka's route was okay but were riddled with bugs too and Choko's... Choko's ended with a MOTHER FUCKING 'TO BE CONTINUED'??? ON A STORY THAT HAS A TRUE END? WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?
EDIT:
Well I played this Visual Novel under recommendation of a good friend, and overall it was immensely satisfying and very interactive. Still, this is not without flaws as I'd now state here both the goods and the bads of this VN.
So first, although YU-NO is made at 1996 by no means this is meant for casual readers. In fact, put on your professor's glasses because it involves one helluva knowledge bomb (especially during the Epilogue) that would confuse you horribly with complicated scientific terms and theories. Since this involves one of the writers (I think?) of the infamous Ever 17 after all it is not unexpected, but still. Confusing.
It is not a poor plot (again I must say that it is satisfying overall) but it suffers immensely from several factors:
1) Too short. You'll learn a lot about the characters during the short 3 days (after repeating a million times of playthrough I find it hard NOT to understand them) and the Epilogue, but heck, this needs to be longer. Only a few characters get the proper amount of exposure they needed, and there are a surprising amount of number of them.
2) Poor explanation of origins and characters. I can't put too much here without spoiling the experience, but basically the origins of many characters - as well as the
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
3) And this leads to point number 3. YU-NO ultimately reads like the prequel of something big. I can easily imagine this being the Mother of one helluva epic story and following sequels with many, many worlds and possibilities branching out to be something... awesome. A Root of Origin. But heck, since there never was a sequel to the VN, all of its potential and possibilities were simply wasted. It is a prequel to nothing at all, and that feels really, really sad.
So onto the other faults (though they can count as good) of the VN. The Jewel Save system is kind of a dual-nature feature where it is both extremely cool and FUCKING ANNOYING to use when playing YU-NO. I was the lucky guy who used THREE WALKTHROUGHS (1 image map and 2 texts) to play the game, and I can't imagine how many years of life the original players lost just to try and beat the game, much less achieving 100% clear. That being said, by the end of the game you'll be able to go through every single PATH you want with eyes half closed... since you've them completely memorized through countless playthroughs.
The time map is near useless, but that's from a 2013 point of view. I'm guessing that during 1996 it's the only thing that kept the guys going without completely exploding and spitting blood on the producers. It does a good job of showing you where you are, where the Jewels might be, the branching of paths, and Endings in a very simplified style. Heck, it might even be a real model actually used by researchers, who knows?
All in all this is a good VN, recommended for play (I'm going to enjoy your suffering VERY. MUCH.), and deserve a 7.5 out of 10 for its worth. No 8 because my dear Kanna-chan was defiled and relegated to a sub character despite her prophetic appearances throughout the game. Middle finger!
EDIT 2: ミライセカイã®ãƒ—ラãƒãƒƒã‚¿ First Impression.
So I thought I'd give this VN a try since it introduces a less-than-common IT/Virtual Reality setting, but boy was I disappointed (Konatsu route finished only).
So first, the story is told in a very fast pace. Way too fast, so fast that I thought that I must've gotten a fake version which has cut out portions to intentionally screw with people. To put it bluntly, I have no idea when my protagonist fell in love with the heroine, no idea that they actually defeated (I thought it was just chased away, but oh my fuck shit it was dead??) the culprit of the Ghost Incident (which was:
Spoiler:
There were times when a certain scene should provoke a reaction from the characters, but they never showed any hint of it. For example, the black, eye-patch girl was the 'ghost' the protagonist saw during the 'Breakdown' disaster, but he didn't recognize her at all. There were many, many other unexplainable scenes that pisses me off as well.
Also, the game is buggy. There was a time where the background image was out of position, and another where the transition went completely crazy and... I don't even know how to describe what happen.
I understand that this company Libre probably don't earn much and hence most of their presentation and art are sub par, which is fine, but what the heck, at least make sure your game is BUGLESS and DOES NOT SOMETIMES (due to incomprehensibly script skip and super fast story progression - for example, I faced a demon. next line 'I beat the demon' like WTF) READ WORSE THAN PURE SHIT VNS LIKE JUSTY X NASTY.
I'm going to go through all the other routes (since it seems a requirement to reach true end), but if this bullshit keeps up I might just drop it altogether. It's only the interesting setting (even though it's horribly inaccurate and illogical sometimes) that kept me reading.
EDIT 2: Holy SHIT I'm amazed how fucked up this VN can be. Konatsu's route is complete bullshit, I have no idea about Ranka since she's the type I really hate, Sayaka's route was okay but were riddled with bugs too and Choko's... Choko's ended with a MOTHER FUCKING 'TO BE CONTINUED'??? ON A STORY THAT HAS A TRUE END? WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?
I give up and consider using the Visual walkthrough completely. That's okay right? The fucking text walkthrough is just confusing; and at times it plainly just doesn't work for whatever reason (Eriko/Mitsuru route, when you're locked in there's supposed to be a way out but I'm stuck there forever).
Another super short impression on YU-NO.
DAAAAAAAAHHHHH FUCK IT THIS TEXT WALKTHROUGH IS SO CONFUSING AND EVIL AND GAAAAAH GODDAMMIT I HAVE TO REDO EVERYTHING AGAIN FUK FUK FUK
DAAAAAAAAHHHHH FUCK IT THIS TEXT WALKTHROUGH IS SO CONFUSING AND EVIL AND GAAAAAH GODDAMMIT I HAVE TO REDO EVERYTHING AGAIN FUK FUK FUK
I know; my Rewrite Harvest Festa review is just around the corner, 1 or 2 pages back lol. It's just that amorim mentioned that I haven't posted this review here when he found it at VNDB - it's a month old by now - so I did now.
EDIT: And btw, 僕らã®é 上（ã†ãˆï¼‰ã«æ˜Ÿç©ºï¼ˆãら）ã¯å»»ã‚‹ has one movie-ish awesome sauce killer outfit of a front poster (wonder why so little VNs do that) that even though the actual genre seemed unappealing I decided to download it anyway. Good job Polar Star, you're actually making me busy once again! (and amorim too =P XD)
EDIT: And btw, 僕らã®é 上（ã†ãˆï¼‰ã«æ˜Ÿç©ºï¼ˆãら）ã¯å»»ã‚‹ has one movie-ish awesome sauce killer outfit of a front poster (wonder why so little VNs do that) that even though the actual genre seemed unappealing I decided to download it anyway. Good job Polar Star, you're actually making me busy once again! (and amorim too =P XD)
