Eroge Review Site

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#61

Guilty as charged, though the only one I would point to as a full-fledged review is that of Jokei Kazoku ~Inbou~, which I think is more readable the rest. Subsequent reviews will be more along that line, and I hope you’ll consider coming back to take a look if and when I have the time to put a few more well-thought-out reviews together. I’m curious as to what you consider to be useful information in a review; if you could give some input there I might not be the only one to benifit.

Nargrakhan: I look forward to seeing your site back online again! There aren’t many folks writing reviews of the more hardcore titles in English and I’m interested in reading your opinions.

#62

Whew,you registered only to reply a message? "sweat drop"I never know this BBS has that much influence
Assuming you read this BBS,I want to thank you a lot,on my next buy I have AneBoin and 7 Online considered.And your review helped me deciding on whether I should buy it or not(7 Online is kind of crossed out,considering it looks quite complex,seems like dotHack to me)

#63

Meh… I lied… you guys get an update this week after all. :slight_smile:

Futago Niizuma Haruka to Setsuna no Momoiro Shinkon Seikatsu
http://www.elizar.com/?p=29

You can blame my friend for cancelling her plans for giving me the time to put it together. :slight_smile:

Is that challenge of friendly competition I hear? :smiley:

[ 06-04-2006, 08:30 AM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]

#64

[quote]
Originally posted by Nargrakhan:
[b]EDIT: ANOTHER REVIEW
Just finished the second review. I can’t have a good weekend without playing something dark. :slight_smile: . The art seems to be good too! Might be something for me to get later - as I remember, Crusade’s pretty cheap at himeya right now - at least if compared to before…

Hmm, haven’t posted anything for a while, so perhaps later today, I shall also post a review :wink: .

#65

Thanks for your new reviews :smiley: :smiley: !
Just two very minor remarks: I believe that the images of those reviews lack your usual, nice captions, and the phrase “the twins are highly nymphomatic” sounds silly (however, I find much more silly that Peapri translated CROWD’s X-Change games first. Who knows the reason of that choice?)…
May the EroGoddess be with you :smiley: :stuck_out_tongue: !

[ 06-04-2006, 01:53 PM: Message edited by: Baldo ]

#66

Your review of Jokei Kazoku ~Inbou~ is much better than the review I referenced. In hindsight, I don’t think I gave you a fair shot. After I read the Akibakei Kanojo review I didn’t read anymore, and even then, I kind of made up my mind after I read the passage I quoted in my previous post.

Just remember that the target audience of English reviews of Japanese games is people who, at the very least, are not flaunt in Japanese or possibly have zero understanding of the language. Avoid using Japanese words or slag. If you find yourself having to use the words anyway, explain what they mean and consider making page with the definitions of some of the most widely used words.

As for useful information to include in reviews, I would consider co-opting Nargrakhanfs idea:

gAt A Glance to show quick statistics (genre, difficulty, consensual or non-consensual sex, etc), and where one can find Walkthroughs and Save Data to the specific title.h

You already show the genre at the top of the review, but the other data would be nice to have. Finding walkthroughs and save data might be too much of a hassle, so I can understand not including them.

#67

I didn’t think people actually read my little comments on the screenshots, so I didn’t port them over. :slight_smile:

[ 06-04-2006, 08:53 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]

#68

I was browsing through my access stats and noticed the link from here, which prompted me to sign up; I hadn’t been to the forums before a few days ago.

I’m glad you’ve gotten some use from my coverage of G.J? titles. I should note that Shichinin no Online Gamers doesn’t actually contain any real complex gaming content, it just looks like it does (there are a few bits where you wander around “in the game” until you find a certain character, and a few very simple combat sequences). It’s 99% ADV and 1% window-dressing that shouldn’t make the game any harder than your typical fare.

Not competition, though it’s certainly a good thing to have more reviewers in English to spur each other on… my goal for a while has been to get out one good review a month, which is nowhere near what you’re doing, but perhaps your site will provide the inspiration needed for me to get to work in that regard.

I have to hand it to you for not shying away from the darker titles, as they tend to be ignored by the bulk of “visual novel” enthusiasts. I try to stay away from the typical Leaf/Key fare myself, as it’s already been done to death elsewhere… I look forward to reading more of your reviews, and hope to have a few more out in the near term myself.

Thanks for the input! It’s certainly the case that I could flesh out the “at a glance” section, and I know I do at times err on the side of using jargon or Japanese without explaining it thoroughly (although I do tend to assume that any reader who is planning to get something out of the review will at least have enough basic Japanese to hobble through an eroge and get the jist of it).

By the same token, I tend to assume a reader of the review would prefer to play through the game without a walkthrough or complete save first, and then hunt one up afterwards if difficulties arose. With that said, I’m far from establishing a template for my reviews so I’ll definitely be tweaking them in the future to try to strike the most useful balance of presentation and information.

#69

I just finished the Kango Shicyauzo trilogy, but my review for it will be delayed until my copies of the English version arrive… it will be a unique article, as it will include my personal opinion of the translation quality. :slight_smile:

On a side note, does anyone know what PeaPri’s policy is on making Data Saves available for their their translated games? If they don’t want them “out in the public” that’s fine with me, and I’d understand. Just wondering, since I’m making such things available on my site…

It is true… I have fully embraced the Dark Side. :slight_smile:

I’m like you about the more “popular” titles. I really don’t want to review them because they’re so many other places to learn about them. Titles like Da Capo, To Heart, Shuffle, etc. If I happen to review one, it will be for the reason of letting others know how I gauge my scoring system.

Can’t wait to read them! I hope its something evil. :wink:

I’ve discovered that there are who gamers want to see all the events, but not be bothered with wasting time to discover all the “tricks” to do it. Some of these individuals are also those who want to see all the images/events first, then actually play the game for its story second. I’ll admit that I used to be like this, but now that I’ve become more “entrenched” with the market, I’m more of the type who wants the story first.

#70

Time and patience,my friend,is not something we all have.I once spent 3 days without getting an event for Snow Drop,I even mapped the game and failed.Devastated,I consult to FAQ.Still,that’s now not an option as a result of playing untranslated games without knowing single kanji.In fact now I still haven’t finished December without Angel,Utawarerumono,Shuffle and even Tick-Tack that I have made a review of

That’s why sites that host saved games file such as yours would be greatly appreciated by gamers of my kind.Oh,by the way I just noticed you still haven’t put the comments back.I always read those and found it pretty funny.Hope you you will consider posting them again

[ 06-06-2006, 09:58 AM: Message edited by: RedHell ]

#71

They’re back now. :slight_smile:

Bad news and good news. Bad news? I think I lost my Kuro Bara review… that means I’ve got to rewrite it. :frowning: Good news? Two new articles.

First is my own view of .fuck. Because tend to enjoy the darker side of things, I might have enjoyed it just a little more than Baldo. :smiley:

[ 06-11-2006, 07:37 AM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]

#72

[quote]
Originally posted by Nargrakhan: Next is my newest favorite eroge title, Sabae’s King. Great vampires. Great music. Great story. Great character designs. Whee! Then again, I liked Quartett! more than most others did, so perhaps I’m insane. :smiley: ! Thanks!

[ 06-11-2006, 08:10 AM: Message edited by: Spectator Beholder ]

#73

One small advice however: you use the words “If a non-hentai Playstation 2 edition is released”; I’d suggest you change “non-hentai” to “non-adult” ;p.

#74

Noooo, again :o ), nowadays your reviews are more important than oxygen :wink: …

You WAS interested, after all :stuck_out_tongue: ! But I wish to lodge a protest, too! You CAN’T say “I personally suggest getting the Sakuya or Ren volumes if you can¬Åft avoid trying it” with a straight face :stuck_out_tongue: . Anyone can clearly see that Kanae and Kasumi are the Top Class girls here (Kanae, in particular, is the only AI who manages to put some -feeble- resistance to Kazuma’s hacking), and their respective episodes have nothing to envy for ( …in the sense that ALL the episodes are equally bad :stuck_out_tongue: ).

Hey Nargrakhan, if your “favorite visual novel of all time” changes SO rapidly, humanity will need LOTS of rockets when the sun explodes :stuck_out_tongue: …

Thank you very much! As I’ve said, I prefer to await your (technical) opinion/review first, but I’m also VERY curious to see the (immediate and future) results of our little cooperation.
But please take it easy too: I get a headache just imagining your “40 hour” thing…

EDIT: On a side note, I just noticed that your Personal Story Rating for .fuck is 2 of 10. Are you saying that How To Fuudoru is even worse (1 of 10)?!?

[ 06-11-2006, 04:16 PM: Message edited by: Baldo ]

#75

But Sakuya and Ren are sexier. :slight_smile:

ŒŽ•P (Tsukihime) was 2002 to 2004. First eroge I played that had massive story content.

Quarttet! was 2004 to 2006. Totally unique game engine with a great story in the “real world”.

Nukenin came really close at first, but while good, turned out to be a dud. I was putting too much faith in it and got caught in the hype. Sabae’s King kicks so much ass though, so it wins.

Thanks for reminding me about the Quartett! review though. Can’t have two #1 favorites at the same time, so it needs a minor altering to avoid confusing people (just the wording… score remains the same).

Don’t worry. Work vacation… not doing anything right now. :slight_smile:

Yes! That game sucked like nothing else. At least .fuck implies a background… “That Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken” is utter garbage. :wink:

01: Sabaefs King
02: Quartett!
03: Shingetsutan Tsukihime (tied with below)
03: FATE/Stay Night (tied with above)
04: MinDeaD BlooD (series as a whole)
05: Gore Screaming Show
06: Moekko Company
07: Futari de Hitotsu no Koigokoro
08: Quilt
09: Mayonaka (series as a whole)
10: Nukenin

Technically eleven… meh… :stuck_out_tongue:

[ 06-11-2006, 09:14 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]

#76

Even though it might look like I am gloating:
Did you read that, Spec? Hmmmmmmm?
Have fun with your dud… :stuck_out_tongue:

Then why not handle things as usual with a tie? giving both games that are tied the third-position 03 and the next game afer them a 05?

This way, you could also dispose of the dud… :stuck_out_tongue:

… which I myself came to hate right when I played the demo - and that’s something that no demo managed to do to me before!
Sure, plenty of demos made me realize that I am not at all interested in the game, but hating it? That’s a first! :mad:

#77

Even though it might look like I am gloating:
Did you read that, Spec? Hmmmmmmm?
Have fun with your dud… :smiley:

[ 06-12-2006, 03:13 AM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]

#78

Awwww… now you just took the wind of my sails for my gloating… :frowning:

But in order to understand this you ought to know:
Spec and I are currently quite vehemently arguing about the game - or rather the demo and last week, Spec ordered the game. So having you, a person who actually played the full game, call it a “dud” was almost a golden bullet for my gun in that argument…

Well, let me first point out that I testplayed both: the demo of Nukenin and Mayonaka wa ware no mono.
And I discovered one important thing that both games have in common: I like the female protagonists that much that I don’t want the things to happen to them that are bound to happen. That’s why I stopped my testplay of Mayonaka immediately after Oogata sent the first of the girls (Jun) directly to hell even though she didn’t do something wrong in my opinion. In order to spare at least the other girls, I had no other choice but Alt-F4!

However, as bad as Oogata Seishirou is, he still acts on his own accord and also has the backbone to stand for his deeds - no matter how evil or unreasonable they are.

Now let’s turn to Takame: he is a ninja, so he actually should be bound by his codex of honor to never turn against his master - in this case his father. And the father himself seems to me a lot like Oogata! So this time we don’t even have the slightest control about what is happening, but just look at it fromt he view of a willing tool of the ringleader!
Because of his obligation to his master, he doesn’t even have to mind what he is doing to the sisters: he is just following his orders and thus isn’t responsible for his own actions. Convenient, isn’t it? :roll:

… and if I on the other hand get from your review that the story isn’t bound to end in a total disaster for the sisters, then I suddenly smell the stench of an inconsistent storyline!

The demo as it is already showed to me the sure defeat of the sisters: simply by being separated while caring for each other. So, the way things are at the end of the demo, now Takame don’t even has to chase them - they will come back on their own accord in order to free their sister - which can only end in a worse desaster because they had immaculate teamwork when they were together, but separated they will definitely fall!

There are three things that can make a story really interesting for me:
1.) comedy
2.) heartwrenching romance
3.) amazing mysteries with a well constructed storyline
and I see none of these elements in this game - plus Takame managed to surpass Oogata Seishirou and put him on place 2 of my all-times-list of most despisable player’s characters!

[ 06-12-2006, 04:15 AM: Message edited by: Unicorn ]

#79

Hey, didn’t you forget 4) Lesbian scenes? Xp. Or at least, that’s what you told me before… ;ppp.

#80

Would you call that a quality of the story that makes me overlook a disgusting player’s character?

No, they are actually just an additional incentive that can tip the scales for me if I have to decide between two games. For example: even that nice CG of Shun and Jun that you sent me before wouldn’t make me ever play “Mukatsuku” again! :stuck_out_tongue: