buy prduct for sure

Visual Novel Community Visual Novel Talk
#101

Whoa, did we miss May? I didn’t get anything out of the May preorders anyway. I am probably going to get ??? at some point because it was extremely well received. I hadn’t really considered getting ??? but it looks to be getting a positive reception too- but it’s far too early to tell.

Anyway, June:
DEFINITELY
Gurenka by Escu:de - I dunno what happened to Escu:de, after releasing ordinary games with obnoxious theme songs, they went and released the sleeper hit Akatoki and now they’ve got another great looking title in the works. This is written by the Concerto Note / Tasogare no Sinsemilla writer and those games were great, the latter especially. The art is by Nekonyan of GIGA fame (Parfait, Kono Aozora) and as such looks pretty great. For me at least this is a must-get.

PROBABLY
Hatsukoi 1/1 by Tone Work’s - production values are where you’d hope they’d be for Visual Art’s’ 20th anniversary title and it looks like they’ve pulled out all the stops. It doesn’t have an assortment of famous writers like Rewrite had, but it does have 3/4 of the writers that worked on Mashiro Summer, an eroge that was only lacking because the concept was weak. With a much stronger story this time, everything is in place for this to be an excellent title. There’s still some degree of risk but I’d be comfortable preordering this.
Namima no Kuni no Faust by Bitter Drop - The risk factor is so high with this that I’m not going to preorder it, but I will certainly watch it closely. I do admire experimental titles and this certainly qualifies. ???ADV.

EHHHH
1/2 summer by Alcot Honeycomb - I dunno, this looks kind of boring to me and it doesn’t have exceptional writers attached. This would have to be a wait and see, virtually guaranteed to turn into a ‘pass’ after it gets mediocre ratings.
Astraythem by Chuable Soft - I’ve kind of gone off Chuable lately and in general they haven’t been doing too well. It’s been nearly 5 years since Sugar + Spice and they haven’t released anything notable since. No signs that this will be their turnaround game. Pass.
JOKER by Akabeesoft3 - This doesn’t look all that good. Writing is bizarre, setting is convenient, plot is stupid, it kind of feels like a weak Kusari. Akabeesoft3’s other game looks much much better- it comes out in July.

NO
fortissimo EXS//Akkord:nachsten Phase by La’cryma - stop making this game already! stop it! Actually, seems titled remarkably close to the last version of this I dismissed in this thread. Maybe they delayed it. On the other hand, I wouldn’t put it past La’cryma to just release it TWICE to see if they can trick anyone into buying it by accident.
WEDDING BLUE by Lilim Darkness - yyyeah, no. although it does look more inspired than Triangle Blue, Innocent Blue etc.

#102

Liquid Black Box

I’m not getting this, but surely it has the best “price/performance ratio” of this month :o :mrgreen: …

#103

That’s a lot of games. Too bad they’re all by Liquid. I’d certainly get a box of, say, 21 GIGA games for that price.

#104

What about this, then? :wink:

#105

i think i already have most of the blackrainbow titles that i actually want though =P

#106

So… anyone else excited for Imouto no Katachi (???)? It’s from Sphere, who came out of the left field years ago and put story driven brother-sister twincest back on the map. New cast and setting, but same development crew from the Yosuga no Sora franchise. Set a bit into the future, with the whole home android thing (then again, YnS never gave a date-time and took place in the countryside).

Official Site: http://www.cuffs-sphere.jp/products/imouto

OP Movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jbo36K2ebU

Getchu: http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=701547

Sphere’s got the benefit of the doubt for me, so I’m preordering this on goodwill. I wanna see how they spent all that $$$ from the twincest success. With the whole imouto thing still going, maybe Sphere wants to be the King of Saccharine Winceset? I could live with that. I hope the goods deliver.

Street Date is 7/27. :o

#107

I’ve been following it, but only as much as I follow everything. It looks nice and there’s potential but nothing about it so far insists I play it. Anyway, wake me up when the trial comes out*. Eroges typically get quite a few chances to grab me- through initial advertising (sometimes just the writer is enough), story information on the official website, the OP movie, the trial, early post-release reviews and, if all else fails, a sufficiently discounted price on dlsite/gyutto/dmm =P

On another point, I think eroge creators that want to use a semi-futuristic setting but don’t want to head into sci-fi territory should really look to AQUA to see how it’s done.

*EDIT: nevermind, Ignosco pointed out that the trial is already out.

EDIT 2: and the trial is pretty decent, too. Definitely will consider this. It certainly seems better written than Yosuga no Sora.

EDIT 3: The trial is bugged, when I get up to one point Kirikiri bombs out and brings up the error dialogue. Considering the trial came out several days ago I guess they aren’t going to patch it. Oh well. Hope they fix it for the full game at least >_>
EDIT 4: Huh, didn’t happen this time. Maybe it depends on the order you clear the second set of locations.

#108

It’s a very minor thing, but something I can’t avoid thinking about… MeTA’s name. It’s supposed to be am acronym of Medical Treatment and [color=red]N[/color]ursing Automaton (color emphasis is mine)… but that’s MTNA under the American and British system. :stuck_out_tongue:

I’m guessing they invented the name first, and then came up with the acronym… but all they had to do was drop the “nursing” and still kept the name. Using MeTA under that circumstance would have been fine. Why were they obsessed to put “nursing” into her model name? Stubborn? Ignorance on how English acronyms work? Just outright didn’t care? Totally irrelevant and has nothing to do with the product itself… but still made take notice.

Personally, if I was their Engrish proofreader, I’d have suggested Medical Treatment Automaton: Nursing Type. Would have allowed the nickname MeTA, and not violate acronym conventions. :wink:

Sometimes I think Japanese software companies that use English for being cool, could take a day or two in finding someone who’d offer a free moment (literally) to give suggestions for correct English. The reward would only be their name in the credits for special thanks or something. It’s not that hard, and with the Power of the Internet¬ô, not time consuming (and hour or two max). American game companies that throw Japanese terms in them, at least in modern times, have been doing a better job at using authentic Japanese. They don’t always pay someone… you see a “Special Thanks” for them in the credits.

It’s not just the small Japanese companies that do this either. I saw Engrish in Sakura Taisen 5 (the Japanese original) and Tokimeki Memorial 4. Both producing companies (SEGA and Konami) have entire English native branches. Were they too lazy to just pick up a company phone or send an email? I’m guess it’s the “don’t care” answer…

#109

Looks nice, I may get it.

I am curious though, but are people who can read or even speak decent english in that short supply in Japan? For example, the only undubbed game I’ve ever played to feature an American character that spoke decent english was Yakuza 3, and even that guy’s actor had a few flubs in the dialogue.

#110

I don’t want to claim all, because I’m sure there are exceptions, but the majority of Japanese students will have taken an English language course in school. So on a technical basis, almost all Japanese students have spoken English.

Having said that, I’ve been to several Japanese high school English classes (as a favor to friends, who wanted the students to meet an American and talk), and distinctly noticed they memorized the language: not actually learned to speak it. You know how we memorize the multiplication table in math class, so we can shoot out what’s 9x9 or 12x12 without even thinking or doing the real math? That’s what they did with English. They only learned English because it was mandatory and there was a standardized test… but only learned what they needed to know to pass the test.

Now not every student was like this - there was always two or three who were outstanding - but the majority only understood a set number of phrases and sentences. They couldn’t discuss anything that would not be on a standardize test… literally. And of course, just like Americans who learn Spanish or Latin or whatever, once they get out of school… people just forget what they don’t need to use anymore…

To answer your original question: there isn’t a shortage of excellent English speakers in Japan. In fact, I see Japanese-to-English translators post their resume on various job sites all the time. I think companies are a combination of lazy and cheap (maybe even uncaring), with a heavy reliance on stuff like Google Translate. And of course, because almost all Japanese students have taken English, they know enough to make bad Engrish on their own without outside help. :stuck_out_tongue:

EDIT
Also forgot to mention, that in Japan, there’s a heavy American presence with all the military bases. There’s entire communities and businesses in Japan that speak fluent English, to just deal with the tens of thousands of them. I remember reading somewhere that 10% of Yokosuka is American.