Information and suggestions

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#1

As mentioned in this post, I’m planning on make a large purchase of untranslated games very soon. Since only two people gave any response, I thought I might start my own little topic and see if I get a better response. In any case, it looks like ErogeShop will be the way to go unless someone has a better suggestion. I am looking for suggestions on titles from those of you with much more experience than I playing untranslated titles. What follows is a scale of what I think of the (translated) games in my collection:
Great: Kana, YMK, Crescendo
Good: Princess Waltz, Snow Sakura
OK: CSMT, CSMT2 (within this category, CSMT is a fair bit higher rated than CSMT2)
Bad: Hitomi (borderline OK if you avoid Hitomi’s route), Professor Cherry (not quite as bad as I originally ranted about, but still pretty horrendous)
Undecided: Figures of Happiness (have yet to complete a single play through), Casual Romance Club (just can’t figure out what I think of this one)

The one title that I have played that is not in the list because it was a loan from a former classmate is Tsukihime. It might be sacrilege to some, but I would only rate it as “good”, maybe borderline great. Then again, I didn’t get a chance to do Kohaku’s route, which some have said can make a big difference. (Unfortunately, I lost touch with the person I borrowed the game from last year and haven’t heard from him since, so it is unlikely that I will get a chance to play Kohaku’s route.) Getting back to the matter at hand, the two elements that I am absolutely certain I enjoy are a moving story and incest/pseudo-incest (duh, look at my signature :stuck_out_tongue: ). Regarding incest however, I have a personal level of acceptability scale, which I covered long ago in this post. Other than those two elements, in general I tend more towards the “light” side, though if a persuasive argument can be made towards a darker title, I might be willing to give it a shot.
I know for certain that I will be getting Yosuga no Sora and the fandisc for it, Haurka na Sora. Also, I know I will be getting the untranslated version of Crescendo with extended scenarios from dlsite. Other than that, the other titles on my “list” are mostly there based on speculation due to what I’ve heard here on the forum. The games are as follows: Futa Majo (wild speculation based on a picture in this post by Narg), Asanagi no Aquanauts (based on discussion in the “twincest is best” thread), Konayuki Fururi (I trust Narg’s review, but I guess I’m kind of a sucker for romance in a winter like atmosphere), Te to Te Try On (seen it mentioned multiple times on the forum as looking good), Cross Channel (due to scenario writer and general recommendation here on the forum), Air, and Clannad (both Air and this out of sheer notoriety).
Any good information on the titles in my list that I don’t know I’m getting for sure (aside from Konayuki Fururi, which Narg covered quite well in his review), would be greatly appreciated. Also, please keep posts of game information and suggestions to this general format: name of game, general story (without spoilers), why you liked it (if you’ve played it), and why you think I would like it. Posts that give suggestions without any kind of attempt to explain why I might like it will be read, but generally not payed much attention. Suggestion posts regarding games already suggested by someone else in this thread need only tell why you enjoyed the game and why you think I will enjoy it (since the first post suggesting the game will have covered the other areas of information).
Thanks in advance to all of you that respond. The information you give me will help me decide the best way to use the funds I’ve set aside, given ErogeShop’s prices.

#2

…I hope that a little advice will suffice :wink: .

1): Erogeshop is useful if you’re buying old stuff, but I think that http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/game/ is the BEST store by far, IF it happens to have the games you want (no special orders here, yeah, but I love their prices and their bargain bin).

2): About your “I am looking for suggestions on titles from those of you with much more experience than I playing untranslated titles”, read my reviews (I AM lazy, do you remember? :stuck_out_tongue: ).

Heh, however let’s also add THIS CHEAP BUT BEAUTIFUL THING to the list (it also has real incest :wink: ), I MUCH prefer original/refreshing/eccentric stuff, exactly the reason behind my possible(?) pre-order for the next game from ALcot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha8NJQwL_oQ
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10095840/1

#3

I’m not sure if you already know, but there’s a complete english translation of Cross Channel. If you want to play an eroge in japanese just for the sake of playing it in Japanese (and thus improving your knowledge of the language) then maybe you’re not interested, but if you only want to play the game, maybe it will make things easier (don’t know if it’s a good translatrion, though).

Apart from this, I already posted on the other thread, so you should know what my advice is (and besides, it’s all over my avatar and signature :smiley: ).

#4

Baldo: Thanks for the advice on another option on where to obtain my games. I’ll keep it in mind. As for your reviews, I would read them if I knew where they were. Your profile links to your youtube profile, and using the forum search function doesn’t work because it says “review” is too common a word, even when limited to posts only by you. In regards to your suggestion of 3??? (3jigen Shoujo wo Hogo Shimashita), I’ll keep it in mind. The story does sound interesting. Given comments by le nuage on repeated occasions, I think this game would be perfect for him. :stuck_out_tongue:

Overlord87: Yes, I know about the translation of Cross Channel. Given that I do want to improve my reading ability, I probably would play it in Japanese. However, I think if I were to get it, I would install it twice (possibly once on my desktop, and once on my laptop), and have one install be the translation and one be the original. That way, I can try and figure it out myself, and then see how it was translated by another. Lastly, if you are going to suggest Hoshizora no Memoria, please give me details (preferably in the format I mentioned in my first post for ease of reading).

#5

Well then:

Hoshizora no Memoria
Getchu: http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=595825
Homepage: http://www.favo.co.jp/soft/product/hoshizora/index.html

Story

After the death of his mother, Kogasaka You comes back to the city of Hibarigasaki after seven years. He and his little sister, Chinami, are to live at their aunt’s house (having lost their father years ago, they’re orphans). When he was little, You used to play at the astronomic observatory above Hibarigasaki with a little girl, his first love, with whom he exchanged a promise to meet again at that observatory. So, coming back to the city, You decides to visit the observatory. Here he meets a girl that looks exactly like his childhood friend. Nevertheless, the girl denies knowing him and introduces herself as a Shinigami who cuts nightmares. Moments later, she cuts You’s memories of his childish first love.
After this strange event, You begins his new life at Hibarigasaki. As he makes new friends and tries to restore his lost memories, a memorable summer awaits him…

Description

All in all, Hoshizora no Memoria is a slice-of-life story with strong supernatural elements. Graphics and music are nothing short than exceptional. I don’t think you can compare them with anything in the english market (not even Princess Waltz graphics are anywhere near as good), and I would put them in the top tier even considering the whole Japanese market. Voice acting is nothing short than perfect, and it’s one of the main reasons this game is so good. You simply have to hear Chinami. Best imouto character, period.

I’ve played only a couple of routes so far (I’m still really slow at reading japanese), but I can already say that the game is incredibly funny. There is a total of seven routes, one for each heroine plus one additional route called “Yume”. The structure of the game is typical: there’s a first part common to each route, in which you make the choices that will define the route you end up in. H-scenes are obviously concentrated in the second part of the game, and I think there are a couple for each heroine. The ero is above average for this kind of games.

If you consider the english market, I think that Snow Sakura is the game that you could most easily compare to Hoshizora no Memoria. The structure is in fact quite similar, but keep in mind that the quality gap is huge. Snow Sakura is a good game at best, Hoshizora no Memoria is so far the best visual novel I’ve played (just for reference, I’ve played anything that has come on the english market, both via official release or fan translation).

As a final note, you might want to know that there’s true incest. There’s also a couple of twins, but I don’t know if there’s real twincest (I’ve cleared only the route of one of the twins, and in the end you end up with her alone and not with both of them). Finally, although the story starts with a sad happening, sadness and grief don’t play a great role in the game. Sure, you’ll get emotionally involved and there are some dramatic moments, but this game is more about happiness and hope than about sadness and despair.

Well, hope you find this useful :smiley:

#6

The thing about ??? is that, no matter how good a translation is, you’ll ALWAYS want to play these things in the original language because that’s the experience that the people who rated these titles so highly had of them. This pretty much applies to anything known for having exceptional writing as well.

Anyway, while I’m not interested in writing a personal review for you, I’ll be happy to suggest CUFFS’ ???. Blood-related imouto incest, great writing, great music, no voices, a really emotional story that is - to me - is as good as incest eroge gets. If you want to know more about it, just do the same thing everyone else does: read the website, read the getchu page, read reviews etc.

#7

Maa it isn’t particularly difficult to find my reviews, trust me, 16 threads in this 7-pages-only subforum are “Review of” articles written by me, although I have to admit that only the most recent has some brother+sister incest (for some reason, I never had the inspiration/inclination to write a review of the most incestuous title in my collection -Saiminjutsu 2 and Ura Saiminjutsu 2 do not count, I want to see the Narg reviews for those :stuck_out_tongue: -).

#8

Sorry, your tastes seem to differ too much from mine, so I don’t think I can help you much…

#9

Ignosco and I were discussing this and we came up with some more incest titles you might like:

  • Tsukushite!? My Sisters (??? My???), by Sumomo (???) - younger sister and elder sister, both blood-related, both quite charming. Best friend character also has a charming younger sister and this comes into play in the story too. Available from dlsite.
  • Kusari-hime ~euthanasia~ (??? ?euthanasia?) by Liar soft - adorable blood-related younger sister who shows a rather unique level of devotion
  • Innocent Blue by LiLiM - charming blood-related younger sister studying to be a nurse - really nice girl.
#10

Given your tastes, I’m going to say that you’ll be disappointed with Futa Majo: it’s too whimsical and mediocre. Seeing how you’re getting Yosuga no Sora and Asanagi no Aquanauts, you’ve gotten two of the best (if not the best) brother-sister twincest titles on the eroge market. Futa Majo would be a TREMENDOUS step backwards in terms of quality and quantity. I’d pass on it, unless you really have nothing else to spend the money on. I mean far be it for me to say twincest is terrible… but there’s different levels of twincest… and Futa Majo doesn’t rank on the top of any lists I’d make.

#11

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Keep in mind, however, that while I definitely quite enjoy games with incest in them, it by far is below a great story in importance. If incest was absolutely vital, I wouldn’t think YMK was so great, now would I? :stuck_out_tongue:
Lancer-X: As for looking at getchu and the websites for the games, while it is true that I’m kind of lazy and don’t want to take the time to try and understand what is written (lately I’ve been seeing some really weird things when I try and use Google), the main reason is that I often find the “descriptions” not very descriptive.
Narg: Yosuga no Sora and Haruka na Sora were the only ones I was sure I was getting. However, with what you have said now, I think Asanagi no Aquanauts will now join them.

#12

Based on what I’ve gathered from your posts about Japanese, you’re going to have a pretty difficult time playing games in Japanese. Judging by the level of grammar you’re at, I’m going to guess you won’t know what the vast majority of words used in most games are. You might find it pretty frustrating to look stuff up constantly or you might miss a lot of content if you’re the type of skips over unknown words.

#13

Except the idea of playing eroge is to learn more Japanese so you can play more eroge! You don’t need to be a master of this stuff to get started.

#14

I fully expect that I will have quite a difficult time. However, if I don’t at least try, I won’t get any better (as Lancer-X explained while I was writing this post). Also, I’m not really getting all these games so that I can play them immediately. I probably won’t get to anything other than Kanon (which I plan on starting over winter break) until at least the middle of next year (which will probably be after Japanese IV, provided I survive Japanese III :stuck_out_tongue: ).

#15