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Visual Novels Community Thread | A Little Something for Everyone

So the 5pb. Games USA Twitter account tweeted about an upcoming XBLA release of one of their shmups (their support for Xbox 360 continues to astound), but I noticed they linked to an English 5pb. site I've never seen before: http://5pbgames.com

The interesting part is that in the Games section there are several Japanese-only VN releases (which are documented as such). What could this mean? Well, maybe the PR company was told to put 10 games in the portfolio and couldn't find enough games in English. Or maybe there are future localization plans.

I'd think we would see Muv-Luv or Steins;Gate 0 in there if they were including future localizations, though. Anyway, just thought I'd share, even if it really amounts to nothing.
Yeah, I doubt anyone would localize the Is the Order a Rabbit? game or the console version of Konosora. Though Punchline I could see I suppose.
 
So I'm progressing through Tatarigoroshi (Higurashi's third chapter, spoilers for Watanagashi and Onikakushi as well) and holy fucking SHIT.

Just read the part where Rena, Mion and Keiichi argue about how to save Satoko. Holy fuck. The music, the lines, the VA- utterly incredible scene (up there with USODA! and the climax -especially the final infodump at the end- of Watanagashi for me). Keiichi's rant was intense but Rena's scathing sarcasm and sincere anger was... holy fucking shit. Not only is she my favorite character alongside Shion now, that argument was the first time we saw the "bunch of friends" archetype -façade?- truly break down without the influence of seemingly supernatural shit. It was so real, it was all too real. Jesus fuck.

I also like how Ooishi goes from being your mysterious ally in Onikakushi to likable in Watanagashi to fully scary and suspicious in Tatarigoroshi. I don't know if this will hit the highs of Watanagashi (namely the torture, the toy shop scene with both Mion and Shion, the whole shed exploration shenanigans) but hooooly FUCK did it get REAL. Loving it so far. Higurashi is back and I love it.
 

XMSHO

Member
5pb. never ceases to amaze me with the number of associated websites/accounts that they have.
Couple of days ago they pushed an update to Asian copies of Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness on Xbox ONE that added the English localization.
 
5pb. never ceases to amaze me with the number of associated websites/accounts that they have.
Couple of days ago they pushed an update to Asian copies of Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness on Xbox ONE that added the English localization.
That's very interesting, since the Xbox One version was never published in English. I guess people can import it now?
 
Everyone go and buy The House in Fata Morgana while it's on sale.

Everyone and their families should buy this.

Everyone and their families and their close friends and their acquaintances need to buy this.

edit:
It has literally NO negative reviews for a reason:
9ad5b66c24.png
 

jonjonaug

Member
So I'm progressing through Tatarigoroshi (Higurashi's third chapter, spoilers for Watanagashi and Onikakushi as well) and holy fucking SHIT.

Just read the part where Rena, Mion and Keiichi argue about how to save Satoko. Holy fuck. The music, the lines, the VA- utterly incredible scene (up there with USODA! and the climax -especially the final infodump at the end- of Watanagashi for me). Keiichi's rant was intense but Rena's scathing sarcasm and sincere anger was... holy fucking shit. Not only is she my favorite character alongside Shion now, that argument was the first time we saw the "bunch of friends" archetype -façade?- truly break down without the influence of seemingly supernatural shit. It was so real, it was all too real. Jesus fuck.

I also like how Ooishi goes from being your mysterious ally in Onikakushi to likable in Watanagashi to fully scary and suspicious in Tatarigoroshi. I don't know if this will hit the highs of Watanagashi (namely the torture, the toy shop scene with both Mion and Shion, the whole shed exploration shenanigans) but hooooly FUCK did it get REAL. Loving it so far. Higurashi is back and I love it.

Chapter 3 is my favorite of the first half of Higurashi, it's just incredibly good and hard hitting.
 

Ephidel

Member
How the heck does this get past QA ?
Sitrus said the Japanese version had the same error, but with Japanese.
Same error in the japanese version, you have to set it to japanese language there though.
So it was an existing error, just one exacerbated by the fact pqube's version is far more likely to end up in multi language vitas, and so it's far more likely to be encountered. Even if they knew about it, it's not necessarily something that would have been within their control to fix.

Alternatively I guess maybe it just didnt occur to them to check on other language consoles. It's probably not something that makes any difference most of the time (although I vaguely recall some games having trophies that displayed incorrectly if the console wasn't set to English).
 

JulianImp

Member
I ended up finding a copy of New Love Plus Plus today (I wonder if the eventual sequelwill end up being named New Love Sharp...), so I guess I'll be trying it out a bit and see how it goes. Hopefully, I won't end up going too far down the rabbit hole by the time I'm done with it.
 
Sitrus said the Japanese version had the same error, but with Japanese.

So it was an existing error, just one exacerbated by the fact pqube's version is far more likely to end up in multi language vitas, and so it's far more likely to be encountered. Even if they knew about it, it's not necessarily something that would have been within their control to fix.

Alternatively I guess maybe it just didnt occur to them to check on other language consoles. It's probably not something that makes any difference most of the time (although I vaguely recall some games having trophies that displayed incorrectly if the console wasn't set to English).

I understand that . Still given the error it should have been detected in QA , those are things that need to be cheked ( basic checks ).
I doubt they are the ones doing the programming so it should be sent to the Team for correction. No question about that.
 

Curler

Unconfirmed Member
Huh... so apparently, Root Double's physical items will be shipped out today. Neat.

Nice! I just got my WAS artbook and manga in the mail yesterday, and I guess the OST is still to come soon. Sure wish they did tracking or something, since it's always a surprise when Sekai items come in, but what can ya do? Just glad to have them in at some point!
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Nice! I just got my WAS artbook and manga in the mail yesterday, and I guess the OST is still to come soon. Sure wish they did tracking or something, since it's always a surprise when Sekai items come in, but what can ya do? Just glad to have them in at some point!

Yeah, just have to be patient, I guess. Kinda annoying, though -- I just want a DRM-free version of the game, and if they sold it on their site, none of this would be a problem.
 

Curler

Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, just have to be patient, I guess. Kinda annoying, though -- I just want a DRM-free version of the game, and if they sold it on their site, none of this would be a problem.

I'm mostly just glad they have extremely cut down on Kickstarters. My wallet was hurting for about 2 years with project after project! Having to keep track of them all and what rewards are coming etc. have been a pain :x
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
"The one thing I don't like about Fata Morgana is that it's almost too good."

That's a legit concern with the game. It was so fuckin' bonkers I had to step away from it for a bit, and there were several times I had to take a step back and just *think* about some shit.

I'm not quite finished with it, but it's such an easy recommendation. The game is incredible.
 

Taruranto

Member
Looking back, I'm surprised how much I enjoyed it.

I tend to be quite critical of stuff, but right now I'm "Woah, that was really fucking good". I don't think I even enjoyed a VN from start to finish like that before, I have more issues with some of my favorites. (Higurashi and Ever17)
 
You could nitpick some of the pacing in Fata Morgana and how it flirts a bit with being anti-climatic, but the work as a whole is so strong that I don't find any of that particularly problematic.
 
I finished Root letter with all endings, it took me around 10 hours. It wasnt the most mindblowing experience this year especially coming from the silver case that i really enjoyed and compared to my favourite two: root double and fata morgana it has a really weak cast and lacks depth.

But i cant deny that i enjoyed the journey, this VN has other qualities, like amazing cg backgrounds, interesting and relaxing real life japan setting, the exploration part is similiar to ace attorney but more enjoyable thanks to the production values and varied locations.
Its really like feels like a trip in a foreign country where there is a lot to see and learn.

If you look for a good VN on vita and ps4, you cant go wrong, its one of the better ones available. But if you alrrady have a vast amount of other VNs to play on steam i wouldnt call it essential.
 

Jimrpg

Member

JulianImp

Member
So, I kind of have a couple gripes with some of Love Plus' friend side mechanics...
  • The game letting you know in advance when you'll be meeting a girl during an activity streamlines the player's path towards getting along with whichever one they like a bit too much, which feels like a cheap way to allow players to min-max rather than having to guess where a girl is likely to be on any given time of the day
  • It's also kind of funny that you can skip out on To-do activities, and all you get is a generic mail from a random classmate saying "Oh well, don't worry", rather than some more meaningful interactions with the girl besides a likely stat drop, I guess. I remember skipping out on a Nene to-do on some days because of the other girls, and she didn't even react to that in any way when I eventually did go meet up with her
  • The meta-story makes little sense so far, since I've had the player all but quit his part-time job to join the tennis club, and then he got roped into doing work at the school library, but whenever I decide to send him back to the court it's like nobody even cares that he's been skipping out on his club activities, or that he's probably way behind compared to other club members. Oh, and no work probably means he's getting little money, but the game apparently doesn't take that into account either
  • I'd probably have liked more activities that use your stats in more obvious ways such as competitions or exams, since it feels like all I'm doing is raising random stats that don't do much at all, with a couple obscure stat checks thrown in at random intervals that are completely opaque to the player
  • The mail system looked interesting to me at first, but only being able to write a single message at a time was crappy, since it doesn't actually lend itself to having the protagonist actually chat with the girls via phone before going to bed or after waking up. Options for sending them mails are always "G'morning", "Goodnight" and "Watcha doing?", and for replying you only get "Succinct answer", "Regular answer" and "Passionate answer", with another opaque feature in the smileys you can attach to messages, which apparently don't change their replies (they probably result in some hidden stat changes, but that isn't good design)

TL;DR: The game so far has kept throwing overly opaque systems my way, which are slowly turning the game into a tedious grind for hidden affection values more than actually trying to understand and bond with the girls. The player having extremely limited input during event conversations is also a pain, since the protagonist sometimes says stuff you wish he didn't that probably sets your relationship with a girl back by a fair bit.

...Or maybe I just suck at this kind of games.
 
"The one thing I don't like about Fata Morgana is that it's almost too good."

That's a legit concern with the game. It was so fuckin' bonkers I had to step away from it for a bit, and there were several times I had to take a step back and just *think* about some shit.

I'm not quite finished with it, but it's such an easy recommendation. The game is incredible.

Fata Morgana is practically AIRTIGHT in my eyes, plot-wise and pacing-wise. The only exception I can think of is (lategame Fata Morgana spoilers!)
how the game slows down at the beginning of the Final Door after a fucking breakneck pace for the last 5-10 hours of the game.
It's almost perfect at what it does.

Got it in the sale yesterday. This and Steins;Gate 0 is a lot of VN to get thru for the rest of the year. :)

Haha, nice! I advise you to make time in advance because Fata Morgana is one of those games that don't let you go.

From a critical perspective, Fata Morgana might be the most excellent VN I have ever read. The only big qualm I have with it is that it is 4:3.
 

PhleBuster

Neo Member
I finished Root letter with all endings, it took me around 10 hours. It wasnt the most mindblowing experience this year especially coming from the silver case that i really enjoyed and compared to my favourite two: root double and fata morgana it has a really weak cast and lacks depth.

I didn't expect it to turn out that short o_o.
 
Root Letter is only 10 hours long? That really doesn't make me want to spend $60 on it...

yes 10 to 15 hours max I would say, it's really fast to see the other routes thanks to the chapter skip function.

according to the ingame timer anyway, but i can't immagine the game to last for over than 15 even if you're a slow reader

Edit: this review here should be banned!

With five endings to aim for, amounting to around 50 hours of gameplay, Root Letter is great for anyone that loves a good mystery. Obviously it’s not action-packed – this is a visual novel after all – but just like a good book it keeps you on tenterhooks from beginning to end, eager to find out exactly what happened all those years ago and the implications it may have in the present day. Those looking for a Phoenix Wright-style experience on PS4 should look no further – Root Letter scratches the itch whilst also presenting a more compelling and mature story.

http://www.gamespew.com/2016/10/root-letter-review/
 
Tatarigoroshi, JESUS FUCK

That scene where Satoko screams and babbles incoherently is absolutely bloodcurdling. Read it in broad daylight and my hands are trembling right now. Especially the obvious implication. Fuuuuuuuck. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

That scene right after about the "1500 seconds" was equally fucking crazy. I have a bit of an idea about what that really was... Keiichi right then had those exact same matte eyes as Mion and Rena did previously (and Satoko did in this chapter), right?..

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Also, one transition when Keiichi started to have that fucking crazy inner monologue (the transition was kind of like a spiral) was only seen before when you started a new arc from scratch. Spooky. There's the thing though, when Mion and Rena got those eyes they often still spoke. In comparison Keiichi just "collapsed and started to groan".

Spoilers for ALL of Higurashi:
Thanks to the asshole that spoiled all of Higurashi in a Steam review that everybody in Hinamizawa suffers from something called "Graves disease", I'm pretty sure that Keiichi just displayed those "matte eyes", what I presume to be a symptom of the disease. I feel like there are deaths on Watanagashi because hidden drama and enmity between people manifests then as murder. Hope that isn't all that there is to the mystery lol.

Further big Umineko and Higurashi spoilers:
Somewhere in Umineko, Battler hysterically theorized that some sort of microbe present throughout the island caused people to kill each other. Was that lowkey spoiling Higurashi lol. (don't tell me)
 
About those ALL higurashi spoilers , i'll just say that you're alright ..there is much more to it than what you've been spoiled.
You're more than fine actually

Enjoy the games
 
About those ALL higurashi spoilers , i'll just say that you're alright ..there is much more to it than what you've been spoiled.
You're more than fine actually

Enjoy the games

Thanks man.

Also played a bit further and I'm in hook, line and sinker.

The whole Watanagashi sequence was fucking crazy
 

JulianImp

Member
As far as I know, Umineko was built upon the foundations of Higurashi, and then proceeded to blow them to smithereens. I guess that's something Ryukishi likes to do, because Higanbana also kind of took the logic you might've learned from Umineko and played with it in unexpected ways.

For example, the first Umineko tea party at the end of Episode 1 had
all the characters still alive and happily discussing the mystery just like in Higurashi's post-story scenes... at least until Beatrice showed up and they were all returned to their dead states while Battler vowed to put a stop to her deranged game, that is.

I agree that you'd better stay away from spoilers, because both When they cry series rely on starting out completely in the dark and slowly realizing what's going on, and being spoiled about important plot points and bits of information in advance are sure ways to ruin the whole thing for you. I'd even argue that Umineko is partly about people being unable to un-learn things, which works both in-universe as well as being meta-commentary on the series itself.

And you should be okay even with what you "learned" from whoever that goat was.
 

Taruranto

Member
Higurashi solution is mostly lame so meh (He even mocks it Umineko...which it's kinda ironic), the strongest parts of it are characters so you didn't lose much.
 

JulianImp

Member
Higurashi solution is mostly lame so meh (He even mocks it Umineko...which it's kinda ironic), the strongest parts of it are characters so you didn't lose much.

Yeah, I kind of agree with that. Umineko had a way stronger solution while still having a good and decently developed cast, but the fact Higurashi could focus on Keiichi and his small circle of friends as opposed to three generations of Ushiromiyas, their servants and a plethora of fantastic characters made the climax stronger for Higu. But then again Umineko's episode eight was great as well, so I don't know which one I actually want to root for.

Even then, I think it's better to be kept in the dark about the story rather than being spoiled by somebody.
 
Yeah, I kind of agree with that. Umineko had a way stronger solution while still having a good and decently developed cast, but the fact Higurashi could focus on Keiichi and his small circle of friends as opposed to three generations of Ushiromiyas, their servants and a plethora of fantastic characters made the climax stronger for Higu. But then again Umineko's episode eight was great as well, so I don't know which one I actually want to root for.

Even then, I think it's better to be kept in the dark about the story rather than being spoiled by somebody.

I think higurashi finales ( Ep 7 and 8 ) are better finales than umineko (7 and 8) finales.
Umineko 's great because when it's not stubbling in repeating stuff it's excellent ( especially ep 5 finale ) but i hold higurashi in the highest regards. It's probably the characters
 

Taruranto

Member
Yeah, I kind of agree with that. Umineko had a way stronger solution while still having a good and decently developed cast, but the fact Higurashi could focus on Keiichi and his small circle of friends as opposed to three generations of Ushiromiyas, their servants and a plethora of fantastic characters made the climax stronger for Higu. But then again Umineko's episode eight was great as well, so I don't know which one I actually want to root for.

Even then, I think it's better to be kept in the dark about the story rather than being spoiled by somebody.

No, I find Umineko solution even worse, but I'm willing to give Higurashi more of a pass as it was the author first work and ultimately, a
fantasy-sci fi
work.
 

Taruranto

Member
Question episodes + Kai + Rei first episode are the only one that count, the rest are spin off or alternate retelling of dubious quality/place in canon.
 
Finished Tatarigoroshi... What a wild ride. o_O

I have exams until the 13th of November or so so I have to resist playing Himatsubushi. help meeee
 

Taruranto

Member
Rei (Saikoroshi-hen) is definitely important as the originals, while Matsuribayashi-hen ending is certainly conclusive, Rei really deals with a lot of stuff that you didn't know you needed until you read it, it's the perfect conclusion to Higurashi themes and contain some really great piece of characterizations.
 
Finished Tatarigoroshi... What a wild ride. o_O

I have exams until the 13th of November or so so I have to resist playing Himatsubushi. help meeee

Tatarigoroshi was definitely my favorite of the first 3 chapters. I haven't had a chance to play the 4th one yet, but I'm hoping to get into it soon.
 
Zero Escape: The Nonary Games - Double Pack launching next spring on PS4/Vita:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2016...he-nonary-games-out-next-year-on-ps4-ps-vita/

I dont see the point of a double pack for Vita when the original release of VLR is already on there, unless its been remastered further? I only played VLR on 3DS but my only reason to buy this would be the 999 remaster.

The definitive Zero Escape experience.

hope the EU release has the EN VA
 
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