Decline Visual Novel Recomendation Thread

[felipepepe]

Ok, I got a walkthrought to try some more endings, this thing is insane! There's like a whole game after Orihime's murder! o_O

But it's annoying, just like the kidnapping at the infirmary, seems like all that matters is one thng... if you uncover the handwrittings, you pass the infirmary, and if you find the extra clue on Orihime's body, you get past it's murderer... quite a frustrating thing in a game so filled with choices...

I stopped using the walkthrough after getting the extra clue, let's see how far I can go before hitting another wal...

 

[Gragt]

Yeah, it's very annoying that an arbitrary choice will change how some events play out, but that's a staple of the genre for good or ill. It makes sense that some events may play out differently if you uncovered some detail or not, or depending on the way you treated someone earlier, but it's plain weird in other circumstances.

 

[felipepepe]

I'm not at the same point as ghostdog... very amusing, gotta say I'm impressed with the game now. Atill, I fear that I'm gonna die countless times until finally uncovering the key to getting past the nurse again...

 

[ghostdog]

So far I'm sure about the following key decisions for getting different endings :

Spoiler

- In order to avoid getting killed along with Orihime, you must specify suspects for the handwriting comparison yourself and choose Nishizono Yui. Then find Sato Ayumu and get one of Yui's old letters.

- In order to survive the murderer's house and save Shugo's wife and child you must have found the torn piece of paper in Orihime's skirt, deduct that the murders are based on the "Egg of Neanis" and then decide to rush to Ueno during the search (not sure if that last bit is paramount or not).
If you find the piece of paper but choose "dante's inferno" instead of the Egg of Neanis and don't rush to the scene, the child will die, the wife will be left in a coma and the murderer will commit suicide. But the game will continue.
If you don't find the piece of paper, you find the wife dead and the murderer has fled the scene. The next day, he will abduct your sister and this will end to a bad ending with your sister dead, you - insane, and Shugo possibly dead ( if you decide you slaughter him :O ).

-Now, what the fuck gets you past that nurse bitch ? Is there some clue that lets you know she is connected somehow ? Or maybe I shouldn't have confronted her about that mysterious telephone call she was making ?

 

[felipepepe]

Spoiler

If you find the piece of paper but choose "dante's inferno" instead of the Egg of Neanis and don't rush to the scene, the child will die, the wife will be left in a coma and the murderer will commit suicide. But the game will continue.

Oh, that is news for me, I dind't knew I could save her.

Spoiler

Or maybe I shouldn't have confronted her about that mysterious telephone call she was making ?

Spoiler

Is not that, I asked her about the papers and yet got the same ending... That's my problem with the game, you can't really take that approach, uncovering that it was Yui's handwriting didn't affect absolutly NOTHING my routine or my relationship with anyone, but it somehow made me get throuht the kidnapping at the infirmary... getting past the nurse now is probably something like that too, like an extra clue at Toko's room or smething...

 

[lightbane]

By the way, there's another visual novel (although it too has a few puzzles) I recently discovered: Hotel Dusk (for the DS). For what I've seen, it's quite good.

 

[Whisky]

I can vouch for Hotel Dusk and its sequel, Last Window, is even better.

Loved the art-style in it.

 

[Malpercio]

In YU-NO you "die" quite a few times too to get 100% completion, it's part of the game. It's similar to PS:T's dying mechanic, rather than the random "lol u die" because you didn't look underneath someone's skirt.

If funny because literally every YU-NO CG contains a pantu shot. Even the dramatic ones.

Also, YU-NO is rather shitty. (the second half mostly)

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

In YU-NO you "die" quite a few times too to get 100% completion, it's part of the game. It's similar to PS:T's dying mechanic, rather than the random "lol u die" because you didn't look underneath someone's skirt.

If funny because literally every YU-NO CG contains a pantu shot. Even the dramatic ones.

Also, YU-NO is rather shitty. (the second half mostly)

The GAME part of it is pretty decent.

 

[Mrowak]

@ Mrowak: If I may add something I do believe you are making a slight and maybe understandable mistake. The same maladies, pandering, and general nonsense you find in japanese pop culture or, closer to truth, japanese otaku pop culture are the bane of all forms of pop culture.

Indeed, that's true, but only to a degree. The maladies we talk about are the same - the forces of are everywhere. However, in Nippon they take a rather peculiar form, which even to Japanese themseleves is painful to talk about. Otakus do not quite enjoy high esteem, and for a good reason, methinks.

How noticeable or grating it is in this particular case comes from the fact it is alien to a western consumer's context, but it hardly can be considered a proper faul regardless of our dislike for it by virtue of us being the outsiders to it. And please forgive me if I have misunderstood your post.

Again, I agree with you - what infuriates me may be so effective in doing so exactly because I am an outsider to particular cultural circle. However, this doesn't change that I don't have to like the direction things have gone to, nor am I oblige to recognize them as merits. In fact, to an extent I might *tolerate* what I perceive as "faults" provided that the "good" outweights the "bad" - just like in case of Kara no Shoujo. I would like to only stress that the "faults" I talk about here are derogatory in every circle even (especially?) in Japan itself, outside of otaku sphere of influence.

That sends me back to my first expositions to Japanese (pop)culture. Nostalgia goggles aside, what I loved about manga/anime/music of yesteryears was exactly the new take on the familiar the - inspired by studies of the west the Japanese came up with truly inventive ways to present something impressive. These days, it's not so much in this case. One aspect of that is that the sense of novelty worn off (both to me as audience, and the creators); the other (which is the actual issue here) that commerce and exploitation that really brings whole media down to an untolerable degree (I mean, really mindbogling stuff, which stands against why I became interesteed in Japan in the first place), which effectively prevents me from enjoying what they have to offer.

Another personal note: I really loathe when someone has an excellent idea, and then puts on it tonnes of garbage... It's just such a waste of potential.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

The YU-NO epilogue was probably written by an intern or something.

I was thing it was something more along the line that they promised 'someone' they were going to make a cliché-run-of-the-mill story but instead went with something totally different, then made the ending as bad as possible just to troll that 'someone'.

 

[Cool name]

@ Mrowak: Please forget I did say anything on the topic. I am very sorry for having wasted your time.

 

[Mrowak]

@ Mrowak: Please forget I did say anything on the topic. I am very sorry for having wasted your time.

???

How exactly did you waste my time? If anything it was a good observation and an opportunity for me to "order my thoughts" and voice my concerns - and this is always a good thing.

 

[Cool name]

@ Mrowak: There is a noticeable chasm between the ways in which each of us interpretates and experiences reality. This chasm was already known to me and thus it was my mistake to post what I did when the resulting situation should have been obvious to me. Nothing is further away of my intention than to spawn a long and hurtful discussion on the faults I perceive on the way you choose to filter both reality and experience when the prism it is my choice to to use may be as fallible and error prone. I aks you to please not pursue this topic any further and I hope no lasting damage to our relationship has been caused by this.

 

[Aeschylus]

Are you able to fluently read Japanese, SCO? I would like to know this before entering any discussion or debate on the "current state of the art of both genres."

I am, and though I don't really play VNs I can comment on the general state of the entertainment industry in Japan. That is, it is massively productive (and the porn-game industry remarkably so), and shovels out loads of trash monthly, accompanied by one or two gems every year. In that sense, it's not too different from popular culture anywhere else, except in the volume.
And to actually contribute to the topic, I dunno if it would be considered a VN as such, but the Hotel Dusk games were pretty good, and bordered on being proper adventure games.

 

[Cool name]

@ Aeschylus: Indeed. Your words reflect my own thoughts on the matter. Just in case there has been any misunderstanding about my previous words I want to explain my intention has never been to claim Visual Novels as superior to this or that. I was instead just trying to say than to discuss the state of the art of western and eastern interactive stories one should be familiar with both to the same extent. The criticism usually made about a lack of interactivity when compared to more developed game books in the west is usually baseless when we take in consideration some of the visual novels coming out even in the romance sub-genre. I am sorry if my previous posts were not explicit enough.

 

[Mrowak]

@ Mrowak: There is a noticeable chasm between the ways in which each of us interpretates and experiences reality. This chasm was already known to me and thus it was my mistake to post what I did when the resulting situation should have been obvious to me. Nothing is further away of my intention than to spawn a long and hurtful discussion on the faults I perceive on the way you choose to filter both reality and experience when the prism it is my choice to to use may be as fallible and error prone. I aks you to please not pursue this topic any further and I hope no lasting damage to our relationship has been caused by this.

"Without contraries is no progression". I understand your position, but I do not think us arguing could do any lasting damage. As far as I can recall we've never really agreed on anything from the outset, and this does not mean I think any less of you - in fact it's quite the opposite. I like critical thinkers.

I guess you are right - if you don't feel like arguing we can just agree to disagree, and that would be fine as well. But I do not really understand why you should be so defensive about it.

From other news I finally got round to installing Shikkoku no Sharnoth. It's slightly too girlish to suit my tastes, but I like the premise, art direction and music. I can see why you hold it in high regard.

 

[Phage]

Saya no Uta, seriously.

 

[Whisky]

Analogue: a Hate Story was actually reviewed by IGN. Lulz.

Christine Love’s Analogue isn’t without its own horrors, but they lie in contemplating the ghosts of an overly patriarchal society left to evolve without outside influences instead of bloody squabbles with nightmarish baddies. This is as much of a story about love, betrayal, and duty as it is about hate, and the questions it raises linger in the mind long after finishing all five of the available endings.

If it's anything like the creator's other game, "don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story," then it is complete and utter garbage.

 

[HotSnack]

I've read a pretty amusing LP on saya no uta. Didn't really know where to paste it in the forums, so here you go for those curious.

A snippet:

Saya’s slender hips bounce up and down like an insatiable flywheel (huh?), each descent thrusting my hard desire (read: his dilznick) into the embrace of her hot, tight womb.”

Masterful.

 

[damicore]

Fucking harems man.

I just finished ever17, I've enjoyed 999 a lot more.
999's strength lies in it not needing to rely completely on harems or moe to sell.

Still, decent.

 

[Haba]

I just realized that Duel Savior's zombie girl who is suffering from amnesia is called "Nameless".

 

[Malpercio]

Fucking harems man.

I just finished ever17, I've enjoyed 999 a lot more.
999's strength lies in it not needing to rely completely on harems or moe to sell.

Still, decent.

Harem and moe do nothing to me, and i enjoyed ever much more.

999 felt too much like a rip-off at times. I guess it depends of whatever you play first.

 

[oscar]

Slowly warmed then fell in love with Steins:Gate. Anything new in the genre? C&C and no high school shenanigans or high fantasy are my sole requirements.

 

[Random]

I recommend Muvluv followed by Muvluv Unlimited, and finally Muvluv Alternative.

Generic high school drama? Yep. At first.

Just play/suffer through the first game. Shut up, I know it's shitty high school drama. You can skip through most of it after your first playthrough, so suck my dick. Once you beat the Meiya and Sumika routes you can move on to the next game, Unlimited. That's where things start to get interesting.

Muvluv Unlimited is incorporated into the Muvluv game, so in order to play the series all you have to do is acquire Muvluv and Muvluv Alternative along with the language patches.