Ah - well although the site’s not being updated, they are posting fairly regular progress reports in their diary. I guess that’s the only way of telling how things are going at this stage.
Well, there’s a bit of new stuff for MK2, but I also wanted to let anyone interested know that an info page has been posted for the Ageha Extravaganza game. As I can’t read much Japanese yet, how does it sound storywise (it looks like it could be interesting with a new character and all)? Does it actually take place in canon with either of Extravaganza’s canon endings?
Huh… tried to order a copy of MinDeaD BlooD online for a friend, but that shop said they ran out of stock. I then go to the BCyc Shop and notice they’ve marked the entire MDB line as “sold out”… even the new DVD remake:
http://www.cyc-soft.com/netshop_beye/beye_shop_g.htm
That’s rather suspicious and very annoying… I wonder what the hell is up. I refuse to believe BCyc would simply stop selling copes of what is possibly their best selling game series. As things stand right now, unless BCyc starts printing more copies, you won’t find MDB once shops run out of stock.
EDIT
Ah… I see what they did now. You can only get MDB if you order the Hinakin BOX. Seriously annoying… most importers are listing that as sold out.
hmm i wonder if all their older titles are going to change to this.
I can see why they did it ( It’s cheaper to just make 1 kind of the game, then a box kind + a single kind )*. I own the Hinakin Box ( and the Yami No Koe box ), so i’m glad i got it before it was sold out. If anyone else wants it, Custom Order from ErogeShop.
My guess is that they’ll be phasing out their single titles so people can buy the box versions.
they started with MDB, so they have 2/4 of the Hinakin box done.
Next they’ll prolly stop selling MK as a single, or the YNK series ( cept Zero ).
Prolly anything from 2006 or before, i think, will be phased out. Anything from 2007+ will prolly still be sold or phased out last.
- = Maby this is a hint that Black Cyc is starting to run out of money…
Maybe, they simply stop reprinting on physical media - and let the games go DLsite, as they did a few years ago with the first three “Yami no Koe”-games?
mmm i’m not sure how big the games can be on DLsite, most of Black Cycs games are fairly big.
MDB, BDD, YNK 0 and GSS are all over 1GB
With those 3 YNK games,
None of them are over 800mb,
One of them is smaller then 350MB
If games can be put up there that are over 1GB or 2GB, then i think it’s a possibility that they are creating download editions.
I remember reading somewhere ( was it on these forums? ) that Black Cyc was hiring someone who can translate Japanese to English. Maby their games are going on the Japanese and English Dlsite? 
Can someone who can speak Japanese send them an email and ask why? We might get lucky and get a clear answer.
Speculating a bit, but it looks it’s following on from one of the bad endings, or at least one of the endings that doesn’t go all the way through to the final chapter. I’m fairly sure the recent fandisk was the same - the aftermath of another two of the bad endings, rather than something canonical.
I don’t think there’s a limit as to how large something can be on dlsite - there’s at least one 4+ GB thing on Maniax. I guess it’s quite possible that MinDead Blood might be going up on dlsite, as aside from Yami no Koe 1-3, there are also some early Cyc (branch, not brand) titles on there. If it does go up on dlsite + all the other paid download sites, it’s likely to sell a LOT of copies (dark, ero-heavy eroges with good art generally outsell lighter or less-ero heavy eroges on dlsite regardless of quality - for example ??? (Raidy) has sold more copies than any Liar Soft game on there), and they’ll probably get more money that way, compared to if they continued to sell the package version.
There is no size restriction as far as I know.
The following games that I bought there myself should be striking examples for dlSite being a possible alternative IF Cyc should decide to offer their games there:
[list]
[] X-Change 3 (1.3 GB)[/]
[] Nukenin (1.6 GB)[/]
[] Kokyou no Uta (1.7 GB)[/][/list]
Well I sent an email to BCyc’s support address some time ago asking what the hell happened to MinDeaD BlooD, since it’s practically impossible to find with regular retailers, yet still mentioned on their website. Answer I got, was it was still available via the Hinakan Box on B-Eye and evidently there’s a special reserve for Cyc Members. Geh… sucks that one of my favorite titles is out of print. I still refuse to accept the company is that dense… they must be planning something on the horizon. Maybe after Mugen 2… I hope it’s a DVD that includes the original game and expansion on one install (not necessarily a remake of Mana & Mayu mind you; that be hoping for too much).
Huh… it would appear that White Cyc has given up on the formula of making “serious supernatural stories without violent sex” and gone with traditional “drama comedy romance” themes: Natsuiro Straight
Probably a good move… WCyc had been demonstrating a string of suckage on their releases. Not a sugary title fanboy, so I’m not sure what to look or expect for… but all the characters have been revealed, with demo and trail stuff available. Anyone interested might what to have a go.
Also Mio, the company’s non-hentai for girls brand, has some sort of ancient China title upcoming.
The new White Cyc game looks okay so I’ll give it a try just to see if the story at least is good (I’ll probably play Shikigami first though).
One thing though that has me a little concerned is the fact that the main character for this game has no face. Yes I know a lot of eroge do that, but this is from Cyc, where all their male leads have had faces (at least of the games I’ve played). This really has me concerned about their new artists if they’re too lazy to actually show us what the main character looks like, unlike the previous artists.
Without knowing anything more than what you’ve said, I’m thinking that the possibility exists that they are maybe leaving it as a surprise?
I tried the demo of Natsuiro Straight and it looks like another 2nd or 3rd rate title in the school love genre. The immediate impression that I got is that it’s horribly generic - the game starts with you running to get to school on time, when you accidentally collide with a girl on the way there and then you find out that she’s a new transfer student into your class. And the next day you also accidentally run into her as well :P. This, along with the numerous other cliches might have been acceptable 10-12 years ago, but now they don’t really hold up. The art isn’t quite up to par for a 2009 game, the music is bad, and the characters are decent, but not particularly memorable.
Even though it might end up being ok overall, it’s definitely not worth paying full price for, especially since there are a lot of top class eroges in this genre already. Assuming the demo of Natsuiro Straight is an accurate representation of the game’s overall quality, from what I’ve played of Purple Software’s Ashita no Kimi to Autame ni it’s head and shoulders above Natsuiro Straight in every aspect. (and Haruka ni Aogi, Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku o etc. etc. would almost certainly be much better buys too)
Some new stuff has been posted for Mugen Kairou 2, and Ageha Extravaganza. The former is basically just banners and stuff like that, while the latter is a release date (May 31) and a couple of CG. The new artist is okay, but it looks more like I’m looking at something from a doujinshi of Extravaganza than an official part of the saga, iof you know what I mean. As for the CG, the first one pretty confirms this game’s story doesn’t follow either canon path Shiro’s alive in this game.
The artist for Ageha EXTRAVAGANZA is still Metawo. His style has changed a fair bit though in the 2 1/2 years between the original and this spinoff.
[Everyone needs to vote for Gumoruku in the MK2 pre-release character popularity poll. :twisted:]
Are the mushi involved in EXTRAVAMIZUNA? I assume they are in ~AGEHA~ EXTRAVAGANZA.
I got the impression that the vampires, mushi and Non-humans were all in retreat from humanity, so does evil really reign supreme in the Black Cyc universe (unless you mean evil humans)?
NON-HUMAN are on the decline. They’re almost extinct thanks to humans.
Mushi are hiding in secrecy, but aren’t as bad as a position as the NON-HUMAN. Some Mushi believe they can dominate over humans, if they play their cards right.
Vampires are on equal footing with humans and are probably in a “mutually assured destruction” type scenario. Vampires are especially powerful in Eastern Europe and North America. While humans outnumber vampires, there’s the whole “infestation rate” vampires can incur to make more. It seems that vampires are holding themselves back, and the hunters do the same. It’s only when a vampire becomes too ambitious, that hunters go all out of their way to destroy them. Then there’s the whole deal with True Vampires…
Whatever the hell Gore is… his species could obliterate humanity if it didn’t need humanity. Hell… Gore could probably destroy humanity on his own if he wasn’t so whimsical. Still… it’s hard to quantify their power. Gore might have been on the top end of the spectrum, as Blood-Eleven was so weak in comparison.
I’ve still got a gut feeling that Sayoko isn’t as “nice” as she portrays herself to be. She wants to extend her influence. However her worst actions are more selfish than evil. In any case: she’s quite the powerhouse herself, when confronted on her home turf… and remains unknown to humanity at large (probably something she wants to maintain for now).
Naturally, as you pointed out, humans are currently the real ultimate evil (and good) in the BCyc universe.
Probably still too early to say, but from what EGS is saying White Cyc’s Natsuiro Straight is looking like a 3rd rate school love story (Mean = Median = 58, from 7 scores). The title has been out for a few weeks, so it probably won’t get more than the occasional review from now on, and those probably won’t significantly alter the status quo. So yeah, Cyc should probably just stick to the Black variety - either that, or they need to recruit much much better staff for these sorts of titles.
Theme song for Mugen Kairou 2 has been revealed:
http://www.cyc-soft.com/b-cyc-pro/mugen2/dl/dl.html
As with all the New Wave Of Death Neko Metal (aka Yousei Teikoku, aka Y?sei Yui, aka Karen, aka DenKare) melodies – it’s pure awesome win. Performed in their “slow ballade” style… I suspect there will be a heavy metal song for the “true ending” credits. :twisted:
I’m going to preorder for the soundtrack extra.
Yea… White Cyc keeps turning out to be a major source of fail for the company. If I were in charge, I’d just cut their losses and let it drop.
On a sidenote: I’m sorta curious why Rose Cyc has been so silent… they released one of the companies most successful titles (even got a non-hentai PS2 remake), and yet never did anything else after that.
Still waiting for the OP movie and demo before I decide to pre-order. Although it’s being described as a sequel, I hope that they change the gameplay and/or the use of the loops a bit, otherwise everything might become a little too predictable. I also wonder if they’ll reveal things like Taro’s real name, as in the original Mugen Kairou it was always blurred out in the voice and text. The first time that happened in game, I thought they’d reveal it towards the end, but after finishing the game I felt that the story had a good reason for not doing so, and was better as a result.
The artist/writer of that title seems to have left Cyc and is writing the scenario for Shingakkou at the moment. It is odd that they haven’t kept the brand going though, as the market for BL is possibly bigger than it is for MIO’s games.