Excitement! Looks like the game is ready and they're working on a suitable installer that can handle the files being divided up into compressed archives.
My only question is... why didn't they work on this while Overflow was fixing the videos? And why can't they reuse the file packing system / installer from School Days HQ? Or did they decide the School Days HQ installer was so buggy that the installer had to be scrapped and remade?
@sanahtlig: We were all helping out with the J-List site renewal (and the dev log, and improvements to jastusa's backend and (still) getting the new forums ready for launch... we had not really though of developing an improved installer. It came up in discussion as a thought because the final master ended up being our biggest game yet, so we'd want an installer that had some sort of error checking built in to help with the (bigger) problem of the parts getting corrupt while downloading etc..
We had a test installer made while we were doing QA but it was scrapped for this newer one (if we can put together something faster for the time being and teach customers how to check md5, that may help us get the game out a few days earlier, either way, we are trying our best to get this game out as fast and as best we can.
Take your time and get it done correctly. The School Days HQ installer caused headaches that persist to this day, so I'd rather you get it right than do it quickly. While personally I'd love to have early access and just check the md5 myself, once the floodgates are opened they can't be closed. You'll have a customer service nightmare if you don't get it done right the first time.
15GB is pretty lol for a visual novel though. Just saying. Usually that would take me 12hrs to download. But my ISP temporarily increased my speeds by 6x... so I can get it in 2hrs now. ^^
One of the perks to the new distribution system on JAST is that it will be repository style. So we'd automatically switch over to the automatic installer as soon as we had it ready (assuming we are seriously going to push for those few extra days.)
I'm less worried about the customer service side and more about customer frustration, having to "learn" a new "skill" to get a game working. There are enough problems as is with games that trigger false positives with antiviruses, that I think any more layers of "work" needed from the customer for a game to work properly should not be added.
I'm sure with many more tech savy users or just above average in computer skill, it wouldn't be a problem, but for the average user, having to do a hash check on each file, and perhaps having to redownload would be a big point of frustration that we wouldn't want to put on anyone.
I had to copy the files back and forth from different test machines and vboxes... and I was pretty frustrated (usb3.0 drives to SSDs or just across HDDs within my computer during testing) so I can imagine if someone is downloading this monster. It is well worth it though, I want wait to see what other's think (so many funny endings too...)
Then how many more days do I have to wait for releasing the download version?
any chance we can be let in on a few of the questions that were asked during the interview for the artbook while we wait for the game?
It was a good interview imo, 3 pages of Q&A, I cut a few out onto here for you guys for now XD (many of them were fan submitted with a bit of tweaking) and this time it is only in English.
so i just found out just now that windows 10 users can right click a file and look up the checksum of any file ie, crc32, md5, and sha-1. now im just a bit salty you guys diffident go with the few days sooner approach... well that wouldn't help with the people who don't have windows 10 i guess
9 MORE DAYS!!! Hopefully the digital copy will get get released soon! Every morning I wake up hoping to get that email, until then I’m just sitting here cheering Jast on from the sidelines.
Meh, not hyped.
If a restored version ever surfaces, officially, then maybe.
But this here… oh, I’d be itching to get back to this controversy, but I’d probably just getting banned.
@animeloverxX93 officially, ? thats never happening but a unofficial restore version will just like Starless
Resposting from a HongFire forum thread:
"Well it seems we need to wait for this "community patch" to come out, if we want to play this game "truely uncensored". But considering Germany is actually a country which law prohibits "artistic lolicon", for importing that game it makes it a lot easier, especially when I have to pick it up at customs office..."
Seems like some international customers do appreciate having the loli content made available separately from the packaged version--even though they're interested in playing the game uncensored.
@ sanahtlig
Now I am interested, because I am living in Germany. Whats Kokoros official Age in the Game? So I can tell more about that "artistic lolicon" thing...
For that picking it up at customs office: Until now, I only had to verify my age for adult things, when it was rated by Germanys "FSK - Freiwlillige Selbstkontrolle" for adults only by the age of 18 or higher. When its only international rated, I dont think, I even have to verify my age for picking it up. More important is, when I have to pick it up at customs office, they will open it eventually - and then? Play it, until they find the situation with Kokoro? As far, as I see it, their will never be any risk for a totally uncensored version from shiny days in germany.
My apologies, if I am overseeing something.
@ All
I wrote with JList. They couldn't give me a cheaper price on my order, but gave me a 10$ store credit code. And yeah, after all, I am to curious about the game, to cancel it now. So I will have some faith in the release of that unofficial restoration patch for now. Will see, if I then will oder more hard copys from JAST.
No you are right. The censorship is completely meaningless because not a single customs in any country would sit down and play through it to find it. This is the very definition of making a hen out of a feather.
And even so, the digital version wouldn’t go through customs, so that one should already be pre-patched. But it won’t be, because there is a chance social workers hack you and find the downloaded copy and call the cops on you.
I also think it should have been OFFICIAL on the site. The only reason it is unofficial is extreme caution that someone would both find it and hate it enough to try and rally a “JAST supports CP” campaign over it. Which is roughly as likely as 50% of their past titles would have gotten feminist to rally “JAST supports rape”.
Maybe in the future we will have evolved into rational people who don’t fear our own shadows.
It's only take one person to report that it not censcored for them to know about it. They do not need to play it to find out if it's censorsed or not.
And what if said person makes an incorrect report based on the Japanese version? What if a trolling person reports it? What if the person reports you can patch it? If you are that terrified of “what if” scenarios, then you should NEVER buy the physical version.
Digital version on the other hand is completely safe. But there seems like people like to run with "what if"s there as well. What if report guy digitally bought the game to review and report to authorities? What if someone youtubes the porn and people think the physical contain same content? What if production accidentally burns the digital product on physical discs?
PS. Were the scenes completely removed? Because I spotted on the Canadian law that blackening it out is still illegal. And that would be hilarious if the censorship was an illegal censorship.
Yeah that's something I'm wondering too Linus.
I didn't pick up Starless because I wasn't interested in it censored or not, but I remember reading somewhere that all the censored scenes were on disc and the uncensor patch just unblocked those scenes.
Maybe that's not true or my memory is playing tricks on me but if that's the route they took/are taking with these titles then they might as well just leave them uncensored to begin with because if anyone here remembers the hot coffee scandal with GTA, you know that all it takes for it to count is for the scenes to be on the disc, whether you can access it through normal means or not.
Having it on disc even if its locked out with an "unofficial" patch needed to access it would be just the same as if it were there unlocked to begin with for all customs or the law cares, just like what happened with gta and needing action replay to access the minigame.
At least, Shiny Days and VNs in general are nowhere near as popular as GTA so it could get away with that method and probably go unnoticed since Grandmas aren't going out and buying it for their 5 year old grandchildren, nor is the game ever going to become a worldwide blockbuster hit with a lot of media covering it.
"if anyone here remembers the hot coffee scandal with GTA, you know that all it takes for it to count is for the scenes to be on the disc, whether you can access it through normal means or not."
That wasn't a criminal case. That was a spat with the ESRB. The comparison is essentially irrelevant. I don't know of any relevant legal precedent but I suspect JAST consulted with a lawyer before committing to their current course of action.
I also want to point out that limited edition comes with an art book, and as art books go, it would contain lolicon scenes. Unless Jast is censoring without telling (trademark behavior giving them such a bad reputation) or forgot about it (lol, censorship was for nothing since all buyers will be jailed for the art book).