Any chance this'll come to the west? With 0 negative reviews it's really tempting but there's Persona 5 after this so it'll take a backseat.
looking at your id and profile, so for you it's even better than ZE?
1. I wouldn't count on it coming to the West at all- the game bombed on PC and I don't think Novectacle found a partner (yet, at least- though perhaps Pqube will save us down the line).
2. Yes, I do consider it better than Zero Escape. Virtue's Last Reward would have given Fata Morgana a run for its money, but Zero Time Dilemma killed the buildup that VLR achieved and retroactively soured me from the whole series, which has greatly influenced my formative years (found the series when I was 14 and was practically obsessed with it for three years straight). The plot twists are not as mindblowing, but from art style to music to characterization, Fata Morgana just soundly beats Zero Escape in every other regard (which is no light praise for either of them). I did get my handle before I played Fata Morgana, though- soon after I played 999, in fact- and that's why I am still attached to it. The only reason I wouldn't point a newcomer to the genre towards Fata Morgana for their first VN is because it would set the standards too high for the rest of the genre. It would be like saying that the average murder mystery is And Then There Were None.
That said, I'd recommend going in without watching *anything*. I happened to play it because someone I knew from a forum PM'd me a key saying "Here, try this" after I complained about not being interested in any VN recently. I wouldn't recommend you to read my review even, unless you have to learn more about the game before you dig in. It's that good, and it's all the better when you go in blind.
Any chance this'll come to the west? With 0 negative reviews it's really tempting but there's Persona 5 after this so it'll take a backseat.
looking at your id and profile, so for you it's even better than ZE?
If you decide on reading Fata Morgana, don't forget to post reaction gifs here after every chapter.
That's the best part of watching someone else going through the game.
If you decide on reading Fata Morgana, don't forget to post reaction gifs here after every chapter.
That's the best part of watching someone else going through the game.
I decided to try The House in Fata Morgana after reading Hardcore Gamer's review. I wasn't even in the mood of playing visual novels on PC at that time, but I'm glad I did.
If you decide on reading Fata Morgana, don't forget to post reaction gifs here after every chapter.
That's the best part of watching someone else going through the game.
It's that good?..... I've read the game's OT and yeah, with all the praises now I'm genuinely interested.
Well let's see if I can squeeze it between WEE and P5 ¯_(ツ_/¯
======================================
3 hours in the WEE ep.03 , and I don't have any single clue on how this economic product work. It looks like the game genuinely wants to explain the concept, but there's just so many obscure financial jargon and concepts. And the tips often doesn't really help :/
I can agree on the characterization (after all Fata is probably the best I read for that) and style (since ZE doesn't even try after 999 going after those simplistic 3d models).
But the music, wow, I mean Hosoe doubled the first two games' atmosphere with its edgy and engaging sounds, it's literally something unique which can hardly be downplayed outside of subjectivity even when compared with gigantic OSTs like the Umi one.
Again, ZTD falls short in that too for reasons, but I'm gonna say who cares, the music in the first two games is so good and that doesn't change.
Of course I'm not downplaying Fata's OST either, it's great but very different since it relies a lot on vocals and slower pieces.
I can agree on the characterization (after all Fata is probably the best I read for that) and style (since ZE doesn't even try after 999 going after those simplistic 3d models).
But the music, wow, I mean Hosoe doubled the first two games' atmosphere with its edgy and engaging sounds, it's literally something unique which can hardly be downplayed outside of subjectivity even when compared with gigantic OSTs like the Umi one.
Again, ZTD falls short in that too for reasons, but I'm gonna say who cares, the music in the first two games is so good and that doesn't change.
Of course I'm not downplaying Fata's OST either, it's great but very different since it relies a lot on vocals and slower pieces.
I love Zero Escape's soundtrack (before ZTD) myself. It's unique, beautiful, and priceless. I do admit Fata Morgana and ZE go for wildly different things when it comes to music, but Fata Morgana's focus on ambient and depressing tracks won over for me.
Not sure if this was posted here or not, but a new BL/yaoi 18+ dating sim called Full Service has launched on KS, and has already reached its funding goal and most of its stretch goals.
Not sure if this was posted here or not, but a new BL/yaoi 18+ dating sim called Full Service has launched on KS, and has already reached its funding goal and most of its stretch goals.
Well, just finished the last episode of WEE. The first episode was my first VN (from Valentine Humble Bundle), so I feel the need to share my opinion on it )
Things I liked, over 3 episodes:
The art, liked it from the first episode, and it keeps improving.
The setting, in a futuristic moon and all the game talks is stocks? Count me in. It feels futuristic without being out of touch, and it can manipulate characters action naturally.
The in-depth economic concept explanations, I find this part to be engaging unlike most reviews I found, and I actually learned something from it!
The economic drama, at its peak it's just damn good.
Things I don't like:
Under explained economic jargon. Like, they used so many jargons without explaining it, and I end up skipping past it. The tips often doesn't help :/
Under utilized character/story plots. There's so many interesting things they bring up: the housing project, Emerald Industries, Hagana as Anna Haag, and many more. Yet there's no further explanation or conclusion for them. And some characters was introduced for nothing at the end, like Eagle, the young investor next door in chapter 3.
The character development. Save for the main protagonists and some bits from chapter 1, I feel like there's almost no character development. Like, we've been together with Marco from later half of episode 2 to the end, but he receives no character development at all. All he did in chapter 3, besides working, was asking someone out, failed, and that's it.
The ending itself. It's.. Not that satisfying. Even the part where they correctly predict the real estate bubble burst was more satisfying than the ending, IMO
.
All in all, it's decent, and I enjoyed the ride. It's kinda hard to recommend blindly for people though, as I imagine most of my friends will be bored by the economic parts.
===============
I heard the writer had a LN series with similar premise? Where can I get
Well, just finished the last episode of WEE. The first episode was my first VN (from Valentine Humble Bundle), so I feel the need to share my opinion on it )
Things I liked, over 3 episodes:
The art, liked it from the first episode, and it keeps improving.
The setting, in a futuristic moon and all the game talks is stocks? Count me in. It feels futuristic without being out of touch, and it can manipulate characters action naturally.
The in-depth economic concept explanations, I find this part to be engaging unlike most reviews I found, and I actually learned something from it!
The economic drama, at its peak it's just damn good.
Things I don't like:
Under explained economic jargon. Like, they used so many jargons without explaining it, and I end up skipping past it. The tips often doesn't help :/
Under utilized character/story plots. There's so many interesting things they bring up: the housing project, Emerald Industries, Hagana as Anna Haag, and many more. Yet there's no further explanation or conclusion for them. And some characters was introduced for nothing at the end, like Eagle, the young investor next door in chapter 3.
The character development. Save for the main protagonists and some bits from chapter 1, I feel like there's almost no character development. Like, we've been together with Marco from later half of episode 2 to the end, but he receives no character development at all. All he did in chapter 3, besides working, was asking someone out, failed, and that's it.
The ending itself. It's.. Not that satisfying. Even the part where they correctly predict the real estate bubble burst was more satisfying than the ending, IMO
.
All in all, it's decent, and I enjoyed the ride. It's kinda hard to recommend blindly for people though, as I imagine most of my friends will be bored by the economic parts.
===============
I heard the writer had a LN series with similar premise? Where can I get
Finished all the routes in Ace Academy and i found it to be the most innovative VN i've played in years.
PnC adventure games has been my fav genre for years and i always thought downside of the genre came from unavoidable the 'big bad' setup,doesn't matter it was a corporation or an antagonist,shit was played out and eventually burned me out on newer releases.VN's suffer from the same problem and Ace Academy was such a breath of fresh air.I loved how it was all about a dude who was struggling with everyday life and dealing with personal tragedies.The tropes of the genre got me so bad over the years that i kept on analyzing things with those usual VN glasses on,i thought
Coach Ivan would be revealed as Yuuna's 'dead' brother under the mask
and i was sure Valerie
would crack down and admit she was a spy at some point
playing the game was such a joyful experience,enhanced by how familiar you are with the tropes of the genre.Tho i did get the feeling that if devs had more time&budget by the last chapter they would also go the 'big bad' route,whether it was by pure luck or design i got exactly what i needed from the Ace Academy,and if budgetary troubles results with experiences like this then i'm all for even tighter budgets for VN devs all around!
And innovations didn't stop there,Ace Academy might be featuring the most reactionary dialogue depending on your choices i've seen in the genre.Couple of examples of this approach;in the initial gear outfit section if you chose to ogle the girls and comment on their attire,
Shou makes fun of you by saying 'you've got to sneek a peek' i loved how you get him back in the first gym sequence after he pervs
Kaori out by
repeating the same sentence
, and again if in the first gear outfit section if you choose the pervy option
a new dialogue option opens up in the gym sequence which drives Kaori mad
.If you chose to call Valerie immediately she mentions
the '3-day rule'
and if you called her before you
catch her checking your gear she'll mention your upcoming 'date' in the conversation
, and if you choose to spend your first weekend with Valerie you'll know about the island's festivities otherwise Nikki will give you a big explanation.I could go on and on about stuff like this,it's just so well done.
Dialogue flows very naturally and it's really funny in most cases,even the simple options made me lol a few times,i particularly burst out at
'because boobs'
option in one of the tests and
'super smash melee brawl'
option in your first real match, also Shou's
'maybe you should try something hard'
comment still gets me every time.
The only flaw with the dialogue comes from the fact most of it is based on memes or today's culture and this might rub some people the wrong way and i feel due to this choice game doesn't really have any long term longetivity,Ace's future audience probably won't be very fond of the dialogue all that much in a few years.
Characterization of your choices also shines here,if you chose to be an asshole your MC will act like an entitled pos;like
if you don't offer to help Kaori after you nearly 'kill her' and take that dude's parking spot your character will mention something like 'great,first that crazy girl and now this asshole'
.
All of this results in a tightly structured narrative that is mostly free from dissonance and feels very coherent,which respects your choices and constantly rewards them with little nuggets everywhere.However,romance options and their effects on the narrative is disappointing,after seeing just how reactionary the game was to your choices,i thought your dialogue would change constantly around the team.Sadly the most you'll get are a few cracks from Shou here and there and while some of them are really well done(like in Valerie's route) the group as a whole only reacts once(!) to your romance partners
(Kaori in the thanksgiving party)
and that's it.
Elsewhere,character perks was an interesting idea but it was underutilized due to the episodic nature of the game and the difference between the first and the later chapters is really jarring in this aspect.I can only remember two options in the last
two chapters
which utilized the perks
(the beach scene and the cooking scene with Yuuna
and that's about it.)
With the exception of some obnoxious shit towards Nikki(and no being self aware does NOT make things ok),like the perks,most of the flaws of the game stems from the episodic nature of the title.
Overall i got the feeling that if the devs ever has the chance to work on something from start to finish and release it as a whole,we might get a VN in which your character&characters around you would react to every single thing differently and remember and comment on those even in the end game,i hope someday they get that chance.
Crystalline is now in my most awaited titles list,let's see if PixelFade can deliver again.
Also playing Out There Chronicles and Princess Waltz atm.
Somewhat enjoyed what i played of OTC so far but won't judge it now as the things i disliked were kind of unavoidable due to the initial setup they went with,episode 2 should make things more clear for me on whether i should stick it with or not.
As for Princess Waltz,it has been really disappointing,while that probably had a lot to do with my expectations it's still been underwhelming.This has been sitting on my backlog for like 5 or 6 years and i was expecting a King of Dragon Pass like VN with this one,something along the lines of a bigger and better Long Live The Queen,i don't know what gave me that impression but so far(i'm on
chapter 3,mall scene)
i haven't even been given a single(!) dialogue choice.On the bright side,this has alleviated my fears of this being an eroge game so that's cool i guess.I'll see where things are headed narrative wise but i get the feeling twist is really easy to see,if things doesn't improve i may drop it especially with House in Fata Morgana and Muv-Luv still on my backlog.
I'm curious about 2 of Mangagamer's more recent releases:
1) Shadows of Pygmalion - how is it? I love the art, at the very least, but while I liked Tokyo Babel, it kinda fizzled at some point and didn't really deliver. Not sure how this one turned out, but I'm optimistic.
2) I see that Rance is out. I assume it's crap, but... maybe not? When I see an old-school series like that get a Western release, I'm at least kinda interested.
I'm curious about 2 of Mangagamer's more recent releases:
1) Shadows of Pygmalion - how is it? I love the art, at the very least, but while I liked Tokyo Babel, it kinda fizzled at some point and didn't really deliver. Not sure how this one turned out, but I'm optimistic.
2) I see that Rance is out. I assume it's crap, but... maybe not? When I see an old-school series like that get a Western release, I'm at least kinda interested.
Rance has great game play, and a decent story if you can look past how offensive it is. It is incredibly offensive though. The main character is a rapist and that's meant to be funny.
Have been sick in bed since Sunday night, so I finally found some time to keep playing through Great Ace Attorney. Finished the first case without too many issues except for that file on some neurotoxin, which I couldn't actually read and required me to brute force the question of which part of the file was relevant to the case. Still, I ended up learning what it actually was about later on after Ryunosuke and Asougi talked explained the whole thing in more detail.
All in all it was fun but quite complex because I was basically having to infer several kanji, and it's probably to be expected that there'll be more files with wrtten information on them that will continue to be the bane of me, since it'd take me way too long to translate their whole contents to make sure I can reach the right conclussions and all that.
Barely got started with the second case, and of course it is the way it is... looks like the Wright family is doomed to
lose their mentors
fairly quickly. Also, I can already kind of see that the famed Sherlock Holmes
is just some kind of phony. I mean, he keeps making awful deductions and doesn't even notice the "do not open" seal on the closet Ryunoichi was hiding in being intact meant he couldn't have gotten out of it to kill Asougi in the first place.
Will probably be putting it on hold for a bit now that I've gotten better, since it certainly requires me to devote quite a bit of time to it to advance at a decent pace due to my still imperfect reading comprehension skills.
It's good to see him working on something different but which should retain the core elements of the series, after all I don't think going head to head with Umi would work both for him and readers.
This kind of tells us the first chapter won't be out at Comiket 92, not that I was expecting otherwise.
Oh man, I haven't been so hyped about an announcement in years... straight into my veins, I tell you!
Played a bit more of Great Ace Attorney yesterday, and got to the part that I had already played through in the demo. Man, Holmes' "deductions" sure are something... He behaves more like Detective Conan's Kogoro Mouri than his namesake
, most likely because he's just an impersonator... I mean, the first case killed Dr. Wattson off, so I guess the pink-haired girl will be a Wattson impersonator as well or something. I'm expecting the real Holmes to become involved in the final case or something as well.
I finished reading The House in Fata Morgana yesterday. That was one of the most impressive pieces of fiction I've ever read, watched or played. My plan was to read an hour or so every night over a month, but the story hooked me in way I've never experienced with a VN before. I wasn't sure about the gothic art overlaying stylized backgrounds at first, but it grew on me and I think it's quite beautiful. Combined with the haunting soundtrack, the game creates an atmosphere that's truly unique.
The number of topics this game tackles is frankly mind-boggling. From heartbreaking love stories to horror tales filled with physical torture and psychological abuse (including subjects that would be considered taboo in many other games); calling this an unforgettable story might actually not be an overstatement.
There were a couple of moments in the story were I felt like the game might have gone too far, moments of incredible cruelty towards characters that almost made me stop reading and getting through those parts felt like a struggle (which I'm sure is what the author intended).
But to the game's credit, it all comes together in a very satisfying, cathartic way towards the end. The way in which different parts of the story slowly start to connect or how you constantly have to reconsider your feeling towards certain characters was very impressive. This is not a game that paints in black and white when it comes to character choices and moral dilemmas. I thought the story had some lengths (2nd door, latter half of the game) but overall it felt well paced.
So yeah, thanks everyone who's been recommending this game on GAF. It's a fascinating story that will keep me thinking for a while.
edit: The Vita version is presented in 16:9, I think the sprites from the 3DS version are used while the background art is stretched /cropped to fit the aspect ratio.
The new scenario called 'Reincarnation' unlocks after you've beaten the main story and the content from the fandisc 'A Requiem for Innocence'. Alternatively, you can use the password option on the main screen and unlock everything right away by answering 3 questions about the main story; that's what I did. The new scenario is very different from the main game: New character art and drawn backgrounds that show a lot of detail. It's also the only part that has voice acting which is a bit hit-or-miss imo. I've only played 20min of it and so far, it feels like non-essential fan fiction. Not sure if I'll keep reading since the ending of the main game already felt right and answered all the questions.
holy... it's hard to describe my feelings towards this. I loved the game thoroughly, then there's the "cliffhanger" that left me confused and then unsatisfied when i found out it was the "true ending". Thanks to the internet, more specifically this website i found out the bad endings and the tips had more importance than i gave them credit for.
Since i already had gotten the most important bad endings and i couldn't read the tips i decided i would just the analysis, and that answered most of my questions. Most of my questions, yes, because when the analysis started implying
i was played by the game
i got kinda of mad, because it made sense most of the time but i'll never get confirmation of it.
holy... it's hard to describe my feelings towards this. I loved the game thoroughly, then there's the "cliffhanger" that left me confused and then unsatisfied when i found out it was the "true ending". Thanks to the internet, more specifically this website i found out the bad endings and the tips had more importance than i gave them credit for.
Since i already had gotten the most important bad endings and i couldn't read the tips i decided i would just the analysis, and that answered most of my questions. Most of my questions, yes, because when the analysis started implying
i was played by the game
i got kinda of mad, because it made sense most of the time but i'll never get confirmation of it.
holy... it's hard to describe my feelings towards this. I loved the game thoroughly, then there's the "cliffhanger" that left me confused and then unsatisfied when i found out it was the "true ending". Thanks to the internet, more specifically this website i found out the bad endings and the tips had more importance than i gave them credit for.
Since i already had gotten the most important bad endings and i couldn't read the tips i decided i would just the analysis, and that answered most of my questions. Most of my questions, yes, because when the analysis started implying
i was played by the game
i got kinda of mad, because it made sense most of the time but i'll never get confirmation of it.
it's too bad really,pretty much every VN i've ever played has had some fairly significant pacing issues at some point along the way,Remember11 is the only one i've ever seen that was somehow able to avoid that(while not being only a few hours long anyways)
shame I always have to qualify it with "but the endings a bit weak"
I don't suppose there's any chance of them localizing the Vita version of this? Always wanted it since it was one of the earliest VN's available on the platform (and seems really good too).
Finishing the After route in Root Double is pretty hilarious.
After Normal Ending:
Everyone is dead!
After Good Ending:
Everyone wants you dead!
Then you start the Before route and it's the most cliche bishoujo game start ever, complete with waking up to childish childhood friend #1 who lives with you and childhood friend #2 who lives next door and comes over to cook for you. After route does fall into a certain "trapped in a closed space" cliche of VN along the lines of Ever17 and 999, but in doing so it stays consistently exciting while Before just feels like a drag, especially after After's cliffhanger end.
holy... it's hard to describe my feelings towards this. I loved the game thoroughly, then there's the "cliffhanger" that left me confused and then unsatisfied when i found out it was the "true ending". Thanks to the internet, more specifically this website i found out the bad endings and the tips had more importance than i gave them credit for.
Since i already had gotten the most important bad endings and i couldn't read the tips i decided i would just the analysis, and that answered most of my questions. Most of my questions, yes, because when the analysis started implying
i was played by the game
i got kinda of mad, because it made sense most of the time but i'll never get confirmation of it.
I pretty much dislike R11's ending personally, it kinda soured my enjoyment of the game. It's hard to recommend or feel anything toward the game because it basically feels like "what If Ever17 stopped before Coco's path" to me.
Then you start the Before route and it's the most cliche bishoujo game start ever, complete with waking up to childish childhood friend #1 who lives with you and childhood friend #2 who lives next door and comes over to cook for you. After route does fall into a certain "trapped in a closed space" cliche of VN along the lines of Ever17 and 999, but in doing so it stays consistently exciting while Before just feels like a drag, especially after After's cliffhanger end.
Finished MYTH.
Well, you guys were talking about R11's half baked ending but MYTH feels a slap in the face thousand times more with very, very few plot points detailed.
Nonetheless, it was great to see something this mad, where one can't even distinguish what is bad narrative (pacing, dialogues, characters, use of music) from what is calculated madness. Overall I'd have preferred if it could have restrained itself a bit more near the end, after 20 hours of unexplainable things it could have left a better memory of this journey...but this shit is exactly what caught my attention in the previous reader's comments so that's fine.
I wonder if there's some trace of this absurdity in TriAnthology, which was not written but directed by Nakao Boushi, still an important role.
Gonna pause a bit from VNs. May seems confirmed for Dies Irae but I'm not sure whether to read it immediately. I'll probably complete Higurashi's Question Arcs before since Chap 4 is so short.
I finished Ame no Marginal a few weeks ago. Also felt.... really stupid. I mean I liked the story, then you hear what the dev said "lol the sequel to that VN is in a japanese exclusive light novel"....
I'm conflicted with Grisaia... I have that pending boxset from Sekai, waiting for the other games, and then Frontwing announces amd even BIGGER AND BETTER version... But I needs it... I do wonder which translation they will be using for Chiru Chiru tho.
kinda fell into the same pattern most of the VNs I have played has where I enjoyed them but they're different enough that it's hard for me to rank them comparatively and they're all kinda in the same tier
not really a huge fan of the whole puzzle room thing but even at it's worst that was never really anything more than a mild annoyance
I did get annoyed with the pacing of VLR around the middle,with all the locks and such I felt like I was repeating myself quite a bit without really "progressing" all that much at one point,was fine other than that middle section though
as far as the endings go 999
felt pretty similar to Ever17 in a lot of ways so that probably lessened the impact of it
and I guessed quite a few of the main plot points in VLR before they happened(perhaps now that i've played a dozen or so VNs over the years i'm getting better at that sort of thing?) but again mild annoyances
all in all pretty good and falls into the same approximate tier as a lot of other things i've enjoyed such as Remember11 or Steins Gate or Muv-Luv(but below my personal top tier of Saya no Uta and Fata Morgana)
Wish I jumped into Fata Morgana sooner. It was on my wishlist the moment it appeared in my Discovery Queue. I let it sit there for quite a while because I like to binge my VNs, and I didn't have time at the time.
Here are my thoughts of the VN, in general:
- The art is fantastic. It immediately separates the VN from its peers, and even from the "anime" aesthetic in general (however you want to define that). I liken it to Sword in the Stranger City in that it made me go "wow". The backdrops they use are also unique. I don't think I've come across such abstract scenery in large/commercial VNs; only in the very obscure/indie VNs do I see such backgrounds frame the character portraits.
- That being said, the character proportions appear off on occasion. For example, Mell's body seems way to small for the size of his noggin', and his arms are as thin as toothpicks. Clearly the boy don't lift.
- The soundtrack is also excellent. I know I'll be buying the OST once I complete the game. I think the language is German, but I can't quite place it.
Here are my thoughts on Episode I in particular (spoilers for the plot):
- Although gimmick isn't the right word, I find the concept of traveling through each door in a cursed mansion to a point in time to be quite cool. An issue could be that there are certain stories and certain characters one cares about more than others; but if the writing remains strong, I don't see that as a problem.
- Mell, Nellie, and the White-haired Girl's story was decent. Although it's a bit reductionist for me to say, all it amounted to in the end was a rejection for all parties involved. Hardly a tragedy.
- It's clear even in Chapter I that the mansion augments the desires of its inhabitants, and perhaps even amplifies them in a perverse manner. This observation was substantiated in Chapter II, where we observe the mansion explicitly takes steps to tip the Bestia toward his beastly side.
- I like the transition, near the end of Chapter I, to a much darker tone. This somber and unsettling atmosphere carries through to Chapter II (which I'm partway through). I'm excited to see what the remaining part of the story brings.
- More a rhetorical question, but I can't quite place if The Maid is "good" or "evil". Perhaps she is neither, merely serving the role of servant to the incumbent master. I'm sure I'll get a better read on her character as I progress through the VN.
