Makes sense from a marketing perspective.
Since this is the most current Black Cyc thread, the official site for ??? (subtitled Necroslave and Puppet Master) opened today. 
fantastic
reads the ‘Story’ section
Yep, that sounds about right.
Well, I wouldn’t place story in inverted commas just yet :P. Given that these two were the project leads for MinDead Blood and EXTRAVAGANZA, and the artist was also in charge of Gore Screaming Show and Gun Katana, all of which have strong scenarios, there will probably be quite a lot more to Necroslave and Puppet Master than the story section suggests.
Well, the Full Metal Box is out, so anyone here played that extra disc for Extravaganza? How is it?
Anyway, Narg, it looks like there’s some bad news for you. It looks like Cyc’s going to be releasing a Mugen Kairo 1.5, don’t know much about it since I’m not a Cyc member. Any thoughts on it?
Mugen was garbage. Cyc is making this quasi-sequel a members only release… which suits me fine. I doubt they could sell another Mugen, given how terrible the entire concept was. A waste of the time and resources if you ask me, Shikigami 2008 was a disappointment. Looks like they wanna make that mistake again.
Black Cyc has actually been making me unhappy, with the departure of their best artist and writer making a new studio. Those guys were responsible for my favorite Cyc titles, so more or less, I might move with them. While I believe in “brand loyalty” and all that, I go where the quality goes. It’s still too early however, to make final judgment. I’ll wait to see what the two dark titles Cyc has in store for 2009.
Still finishing up BDD… only two more endings to go. Then I can really give my opinions on the eroge. 
That goes for me, too. While I call myself an AKABEi SOFT2 fan, and someone who doesn’t think much of Moonstone, if LooseBoy packed his bags and went to work for Moonstone instead, I’d start paying attention to their games for sure, and probably leave AKABEi in the dust, given that I don’t care so much about their non-LooseBoy games.
Navel’s another studio I’ve traditionally been bitter about (because it always felt, to me, to be a mutated shadow of the previous company, BasiL) – but that view might have to change, because Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa nai looks pretty damn good, and features one of Sorechiru’s scenario writers.
So yeah, in practice I end up following scenario writers rather than companies, because it’s always felt to me that they were the main vision behind a project, whether that is true or not.
I’m surprised that Black Cyc are doing so many members-only releases - just recently there was the EXTRA/Shikigami crossover and a BDD members only side-story disc [edit: I seem to have been mistaken about this one], and now there’s Mugen Kairou 1.5, along with all the other pre-order bonuses members get. It doesn’t seem like it would be that profitable overall, compared to releasing new games. Along those lines, by releasing all of the box sets of (almost) all of their earlier works, they’ve probably made quite a lot of money, but at the same time, they’ll probably sell very few full-priced single copies of any of their pre-BDD games from now on.
As for Mugen Kairou, I haven’t had a chance to play much of it. It certainly does have some obvious weaknesses (music and a very small number of CG variations are the two that immediately come to mind), but the atmosphere, nature and overall concept of the game seem very unique. One of my friends is playing and enjoying it at the moment, so I’ll have to find some more time for it soon.
Actually a new source of contention I have with Black Cyc, is the entire exclusive membership thing. Several years ago you would receive the soundtrack to their games, either on the disc itself or free music CD. Today you have to be a Cyc Member to get those. The best looking calling cards are only gotten through Cyc Member. Previously there wasn’t such favoritism. The most reliable preview information is only gotten through Cyc Member. Previously they’d leak the info on 2chan. Etc, etc, etc.
I know why they prefer people to order through Cyc Member - because they get 100% of the 9800 yen sale, rather than a fraction of that if it was sold through an eroge store - but I hate the notion that you’re subtly being forced to do it, if you want the good stuff. Essentially Cyc is creating a “social class” with their customers. The elite Cyc Members, the well to do Preorder Customers, your average Normal Buyer, and the poor Used Resale. I know they aren’t the first to do it. I know they aren’t unusual for doing it. However that doesn’t change the fact, that I liked Cyc for not doing it in the past. Now they are.
I know they think it’s justified: Cyc games are good. But in the last year they haven’t been THAT good: not since Gun-Katana. Of course this is just a minor grip of mine… the rants of a semi-burned out fanboy. I’m not going to boycott the company or anything. Nonetheless my loyalty to them isn’t what it used to be. In the past, I used to pray for more Black Cyc titles: today I pray for another company to emerge with the same qualities I used to see in Black Cyc.
I’m also not all keen with these “Deluxe Box Set” things as of late. I already own their library: I have no intention of buying it again. What it really does, is make me think Cyc is outta tricks… that they have no new ideas, and are literally recycling the old ones. With the departure of several VERY talented key memebers, there might be some truth behind my paranoia.
Okay, I just finished Before Dawn Daybreak and here are my thoughts. Overall, this game was good, actually I’d call it very good. The characters I found to be very interesting and likable. Also, I have to say Victor has proven to be the best Black Cyc villain since Gore and Yuka and in one route earns the reward for “best Black Cyc villain death ever” The story was also very good; Leonora’s route was good for an introduction route (basically the route that introduces you to everyone) and the next three were also very good in their own way.
I have to say that Norma and Lyui’s routes tie as my favorites overall.
In my opinion, Norma’s story route was better in terms of badassness, and Norma’s just an overall great heroine in how she is as a character and her berserk state is just plain cool. Lyui though manages to keep up in how cute she and Eiji are together, plus those story revelations on her part were interesting. The only gripe I have is that her route isn’t as badass as Norma’s or Ru’s. For one, while I don’t mind being evil, I don’t like being manipulated and also the fight with Victor at the end seemed kind of anticlimactic (he takes this super drug and they beat him just by running around until his heart explodes?) My only gripe with Norma’s is that we don’t find out more about her, nor do we more on her relationship with Claudia, such as how they met or anything like that
Now while I say that this game is “very good” it isn “great” like MDB, GSS, and Gun Katana. The storytelling I guess is just too different, also there are a few points where the ero content just seems thrown in to meet a quota. Speaking of the ero content though, I have to say that compared to the other Black Cyc games, this one was surprisingly tame considering that there are no tentacles, no futanari, and no CGs that were that violent or gory (at least compared to GSS), not that that’s a bad thing, just something I noticed.This beats Mushitsukai though in terms of being good.
Like Narg though, I have to agree that there are enough unanswered questions storywise to warrant a sequel.
From what I can see, there doesn’t seem to be anything that confirms whether or not BDD takes place in the same world as the other Black Cyc games do. There is a bit of an in joke in Lyui’s route, but I don’t think that counts as a reference (unless Himena and Hyou decided to open a toy store after the events of Gun Katana)
The only disappointment I have would be the extra disc that came with this game “Begin Darkness Damnation”. It’s really short compared to Gun Katana’s extra disc and we only learn a little more about ONE character as opposed to three.
Anyway, I don’t know if anyone’s noticed but there seems to be some kind of special disc that’s to come out on the 26th, which will have some mini games and provide more info on Sala and Viola. Also it looks like something else is going to come out in January 2009. Anyone know anything about either of these?
One thing though, as much as I’d like to see a sequel to this game, I kinda get the feeling we’re likelier to get an expansion disc like with MinDead sometime in the future. I mean, like with MinDead, more than half the girls in the game are unwinnable, and also we don’t know much about them (such as why does Sharon like Eiji so much? or give us more more info on Camilla, Claudia, Linda, and possibly Eliza).
Alright… so I finally got all the endings and various story paths in BDD last night. Now the story is has its high points and low points, but then after sleeping over it, I kinda got the feeling that BDD… well… BDD kinda sucks. I mean it’s not a bad game per se… it’s not like I feel that I wasted my money. It’s just that… BDD is cementing a feeling I’ve been loathe to admit to myself: Black Cyc has lost their touch… or perhaps going a new direction that I don’t like. That the company is no longer divine, but just another “average” one. Did any of you guys feel the same?
So I go to Erogamescape – not that I particularly agree with their metrics or anything – and collect the following data:
Now generally speaking, Yume Maboroshi Kairou rates much poorer with Western erogers, whereas Gore Screaming Show rates much higher (going with what I see on this board, 4chan, eroge blogs, etc). Gun-Katana has a love/hate relationship with many people.
The way I see it, Black Cyc kicked ass until Yami no Koe Zero – which is about the same time several key people left to make a new studio.
It’s also obvious that the violent sex in Gun-Katana is a LOT tamer than the violent sex in EXTRA, MinDeaD, Mushi Tsukai, etc. YnK0 and BDD share this new “tame” approach. Yet according to the scant info released thus far, the talent exodus is planning to make a guro-tastic title.
So I began wondering… were these creative minds being instructed or forced to produce less guro and violence, which caused them to leave?
Also going with the scoring data: a chain of 77+ titles suddenly drops to 60 and 59, when the old group departs. Is it too early to start proclaiming doom?
I don’t know. It seems VERY unusual that an eroge company would want to tamper with a formula that clearly works. Most of them are way too conservative for that! Still, I can’t really come up with an explanation beyond ‘artist/scenario writer pair didn’t like the new direction of the company and decided to jump ship’.
In addition to that, maybe there are also economic interests of the creative team that could have lead to this result, like they were not satisfied with their payment and thought they could do better on their own - killing by that two birds with one stone:
- gain their artistic freedom that might have been restrained by some of the company’s commitments (for example if they wanted to break free of Sofurin’s restrictions!)
- become the ones who primarily benefit from the results of their works without having to feed the company’s administrative overhead or even out bad sales of other not as successful brands of the same company (Cyc Rose crosses my mind in this case…)
EDT:
…and in that case, if the economic cash cow jumped the ship and just left the ballast in the company behind, then Narg’s premonition might indeed be correct:
D :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: M !!!
After the departure of lead writer and artist, I’m not sure if Black Cyc will be able to produce eroges of the same quality as before. The other artists (with the exception of the MDB/Mugen Kairou artist, who is working on Mugen Kairou 1.5 at the moment) and writers just don’t seem to be as good. However, I’m playing Mugen Kairou at the moment, and am rather liking it, so I would be very interested in Mugen Kairou 1.5 except for the fact that it’s Cyc members only, so I’ve got no way of buying it :evil:. Oddly enough, EGS also mentions Mugen Kairou 2 as a future Black Cyc release - I’m guessing that information must have come from the Cyc Members site.
Aside from those games though, when Black Cyc does announce their next major title, no matter how good it looks, I’ll wait for the reviews rather than pre-ordering. After being rather underwhelemed by the two games from White Cyc and Cyc that I’ve played, I’m very very hesitant about getting anything from those brands as well.
[A bit off topic but since no-one’s posted about it yet - for anyone wondering about the EXTRAVAGANZA omake disc that came with the Full Metal Box… You choose one of two characters, and see their after story (ie. demise/death). After a very short introduction, it’s 99% ero scenes (2 long 38 to 62 image ones and 1 short ‘finale’ per character) that manage to cram a very large amount of dark content into them (although the gore is mosaiced). On the whole, I thought they would have done a bit more with it than they did - particularly since it’s very very short (probably 15-20 minutes per story if you listen to all of the ‘dialogue’ and definitely not something you’d buy the whole box set for if you already owned the games).]
Good catch there. :o
I’m going to pass on it though. Before I would have saved $100 for the next BCyc title… but now I’m spending it on something else. I’ve lost my confidence for them: So Long, and Thanks for All the Ero 
Devil’s Devel Concept I’m passing on. After the demo I mostly got the ‘ehh, another Boku ga Sadame, Kimi ni wa Tsubasa wo’. Not really enough to carry my interest because I can sort of tell that the full game will be just as much of a letdown for me >_> Maybe if it reviews especially well. Besides, there’s plenty of upcoming things that already have my attention so I’ll not be lacking in upcoming titles to enjoy!
I liked Boku ga Sadame, but will heartily confess it was “average” to me… a 55 to 60 at max: and that’s mostly due to the pretty artwork. I’m willing to give Akatsuki Works a fighting chance, because Minzoku - gimmicky as it was - made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
I’m totally with you on Like a Butler. I happen to really like the artist that AXL has on tap.
Oh, I’ll give everything Akatsuki Works makes a look. If a company has produced something good in the past, I’ll look at everything they produce at the future - at least give it a glance. In Akatsuki Works’ case, this was Rui wa Tomo wo Yobu*, which hit all the right buttons for me, quite frankly. I loved the heck out of the game.
*Not to mention that, with Ruitomo and Concerto Note in 2008, two titles that I consider to be very much top-tier eroge, I’ve given accepted that all of akabei’s spinoff brands can produce good things.
Well, I’m going to wait and see what Black Cyc is going to release after Mugen Kairou 1.5 before I decide anything about them (there is always the chance that MK1.5 could be being advertised so as to hide something really big as the next release).
Still aside from Devil’s Devel Concept, Cross Days, and Caligula’s Shinsetsu Ryouki no Ori 2 (hey, the Bizarre Cage anime was interesting enough so hopefully the game version will be even better), there doesn’t seem to be anything else really interesting in the upcoming eroge category.