I suppose that is true. I know one of the draws when I first started getting into b-games was the graphic novel setup. However, after having played the majority of the b-games currently on the market, that interest has kind of stagnated, and I find myself hoping against hope that the next upcoming game will bring actual gameplay to the table.
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
I suppose that is true. I know one of the draws when I first started getting into b-games was the graphic novel setup. However, after having played the majority of the b-games currently on the market, that interest has kind of stagnated, and I find myself hoping against hope that the next upcoming game will bring actual gameplay to the table. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/tongue.gif[/img]
Don't know if your into other adult games, but the latest Leisure Suit Larry is contains a number of mini games that are challenging. I rather enjoyed the game.
The keyword there is “bishoujo.” I’m interested in anime, and to some extent, Japanese culture. American “dating-sims” and other such spin-offs don’t interest me in the slightest. Not only do I dislike the artwork; I am also quite put-off by such enveloping, pervasive factors such as mainstream American storytelling and sense of humor, especially when it comes to romance. I’ve played a number of American RPG’s, and I don’t find myself put-off by these at all, but that might very well be because RPG’s have acquired a very distinct, niche-like status of their own that sets them apart from what is considered fashionable in mainstream American entertainment.
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
The keyword there is "bishoujo." I'm interested in anime, and to some extent, Japanese culture. American "dating-sims" and other such spin-offs don't interest me in the slightest. Not only do I dislike the artwork; I am also quite put-off by such enveloping, pervasive factors such as mainstream American storytelling and sense of humor, especially when it comes to romance. I've played a number of American RPG's, and I don't find myself put-off by these at all, but that might very well be because RPG's have acquired a very distinct, niche-like status of their own that sets them apart from what is considered fashionable in mainstream American entertainment.
I found the artwork in the latest Leisure Suit Larry to be on par with any bishoujo game I've played. The game is very interactive - you get to explore the world and take on various challenges to advance with the assortment of girls. Some of the humour is rather crass, in line with past games in the series. The artwork and interactivity of the game brought it to mind to suggest to you.
Just thought I'd mention the game in case you might be interested.
ah, been a while since I’ve posted! been planningm y wedding and working on bishoujo games rather than playing them, lol
Princess Maker 2 was my doorway into bishoujo games. A few of my friends had gotten the betaversion of the game and showed it to me. I was so fascinated by all the endings andp ossibilities and stuff that I started doing a web search to find games like it, and I found the hentai section on Animenation and bought my very first game, The Maid’s Story. I’ve always been a sucker for simulations (The Sims 2 is my current favorite game ). To this day, Princess Maker 2 (yes, I have the beta version and I don’t care! if it had been released, i would have bought it) and The Maid’s Story have special places in my heart.
My intro to b-games was a download of the game True Love(same as Benoit). It wasn’t too long before the game had me hooked. I had to have a legimate copy of the game. But even at the time I downloaded the game it was already very hard to find.
I was lucky enough to finally find a copy and I have been looking for something similiar ever since.
The closest games in English would probably be the Love Hina and Galaxy Angel dating-sims on Newgrounds, actually (freeware games). The gameplay was very similar to True Love, even if the rest of the content is rather spoofy. The Maids’ Story (retail) is kind of similar, but sort of dark.
Yea ren’ai isn’t popular for translation for some reason.
Actually now that i think about it…i think i first got into it from Princess Maker 2 beta download and from there looking for similar games and came across true love.
Sadly, TL and CRC are the only english ren’ai English Bishoujo games out there and the number of English non-Bishoujo games ins’t much to talk about either. Maid Story is the only Bishoujo life-sim out there in english…and overall. PM2 english beta is now past the statue of limitations for enforcement (it expired in 2002 or so), but that’s still leaves very few left.
[This message has been edited by Jinnai (edited 05-20-2005).]
quote:
Originally posted by Jinnai:
Sadly, TL and CRC are the only english ren'ai English Bishoujo games out there and the number of English non-Bishoujo games ins't much to talk about either.
That's just wrong. Ren'ai = true love. There's several ren'ai games on the
English market, including Crescendo, Kana, Hourglass. From what I've heard, CRC is not ren'ai. It's yarigee. Perhaps you're confusing ren'ai with simulation games.
quote:
Maid Story is the only Bishoujo life-sim out there in english...and overall. PM2 english beta is now past the statue of limitations for enforcement (it expired in 2002 or so), but that's still leaves very few left.
I wouldn't call Maids' Story a life sim. That's something more along the lines of The Sims. Princess Maker 2 is more of a raising sim.
[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 05-20-2005).]
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
That's just wrong. Ren'ai = true love.
I agree on this clarification on terminology:
There are different types of stories, for example ren'ai, yarugee and kichiku.
Then, there are different kinds of gameplay with NVL, SIM and RPG being the most commonly known ones.
But technically, it is possible to combine every kind of story with every kind of gameplay in a game.
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
From what I've heard, CRC is not ren'ai. It's yarigee.
On that, I have to concur:
Having played CRC myself, I can definitely say that it isn't yarugee. A yarugee works like "Kango Shicyauzo" for example: PLenty of girls and they don't even mind sharing the player's characters withthe others. No real difficulty in winning thegirl's heart, because they are already all heads over heels for him anyway.
That's hardly how the stories in CRC work:
There are plenty of ways to fail in the relationships here. Some of the girls may have the attitude for a yarugee, but even they won't turn away if you don't pay them enough attention. And some others are simply... hard because they just joined the club in order to have smalltalk with others and aren't interested in romance from the very beginning.
While I wouldn't like to put CRC on a pedestal and declare it as a model for a ren'ai dating SIM, it still is probably the best in this regard we currently have on the english market, even if it originally wasn't really targeted for it.
... and if nothing else helps: CRC's original japanese title was "Houkago ren'ai club", meaning in a literal babelfish-style translation: "After class romance club".
[This message has been edited by Unicorn (edited 05-20-2005).]
quote:Exactly. I'm just glad we have this. It's true it was never intended for an overseas market, but it's sold decently. The company could have said no (and some do) to any overseas sales. (I do remember though hearing they were plesently surprised at its overseas sales report).
Originally posted by Unicorn:
While I wouldn't like to put CRC on a pedestal and declare it as a model for a ren'ai dating SIM, it still is probably the best in this regard we currently have on the english market, even if it originally wasn't really targeted for it.... and if nothing else helps: CRC's original japanese title was "Houkago ren'ai club", meaning in a literal babelfish-style translation: "After class romance club".
And peapri and others could have decided not to sell it here as well, but they did and I'm glad.
[This message has been edited by Jinnai (edited 05-20-2005).]
quote:
Originally posted by Unicorn:
But technically, it is possible to combine every kind of story with every kind of gameplay in a game.
Right.
quote:
Having played CRC myself, I can definitely say that it isn't yarugee. A yarugee works like "Kango Shicyauzo" for example: PLenty of girls and they don't even mind sharing the player's characters withthe others. No real difficulty in winning thegirl's heart, because they are already all heads over heels for him anyway.
Aha! After looking through the review on SomethingAwful, I realized that I'd been thinking of Secret Wives' Club. Nevermind...
sorry to drop in at the bottom of the 7th inning. Anyway, I came across Jlist’s site when they started doing business, and picked up Season on dos from them.
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
The keyword there is "bishoujo." I'm interested in anime, and to some extent, Japanese culture.
I'm in the same boat. It's not just the "quality" of the artwork that's important, but also the anime style. I also like the Japanese voices. Although there's no real reason for it, I wouldn't enjoy the games nearly as much if they were in another language. It does help me a little with learning the language, but more importantly I find the Japanese voices during the H scenes to be very erotic.
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
I realized that I'd been thinking of Secret Wives' Club. Nevermind...
Ah, That's an entirely other matter.
Hitozuma Hime Club is indeed a yarugee even in my books. I can also understand that both games having "Club" as the last word in the name may be confused by a person who has probably played neither of them.
quote:
Originally posted by Jinnai:
It's true it was never intended for an overseas market...
This might be a stupid question but if CRC wasn't intended for an overseas market how come it worked on my English version of Windows XP?
Because people that would use the English language option would obviously have an English version of Windows XP. 
As far as I know, it doesn’t take any extra effort to make a Japanese game compatible with English WinXP. It takes effort to make it incompatitible, which companies like Illusion do in an attempt to curb piracy.
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
As far as I know, it doesn't take any extra effort to make a Japanese game compatible with English WinXP.
Exactly!
A game that runs under japanese XP can run under every other XP as well!
[This message has been edited by Unicorn (edited 05-24-2005).]
Illusion’s website will redirect you away from their download’s page if they dectect that you don’t have a Japanese system. That’s because they don’t want to waste their bandwidth on people who most likely not be customers. But the games themselves work find on an Enlgish OS.