Shiki open a separate forum thread and let us continue this discussion on a different thread because we are continuing to derail this thread, with replies of page long texts.
Approach me with respect and I'll parley. Otherwise, go to hell.
Same could be said back to you. You obviously have a issue with this and continue your wish to derail this thread.
Walkthrough yet?
@D_perron: http://adult.megaden.net/archives/55471400.html for the "engrish" thats there from translate, basically the most important days are day 2, which really you can't get past day 4 if you don't choose correctly. The rest of it is basically from day 9, What it means is you wind up on route 1 if you choose to peek at mari. If you don't everything else is route 2. You can pretty much figure out how to get whatever ending from there.
@DarkShiki and @Murderous Int:
... Guys, can we please declare an "irreconcilable differences" treaty here? You don't and won't agree, so please just stop replying to one another. This is turning into one of those weird things where two people keep replying to get the last word, but being the last to post and being the "winner" aren't necessarily the same thing. If someone continues to post in reference to the argument, that's their bad forum manners -- ignore 'em.
Let's celebrate the release of a risky-but-legendary eroge and talk objectively about Starless -- the good, bad, and the ugly.
Aaaaand break! :)
I'm still not ok with the censorship but I'd like see his later works uncensored.
Like starless looks nice but some things are wonky, he gets penises right but the vagina looks out of place. It throws me off.
@Tototo couldn’t agree more
Just wondering but has anyone’s limited editions shipped out yet? I have yet to get a shipping notice in my email…
@Haerts Thank you, already got the download few days back. 
(I just want to hold it already lol). Kinda discouraging to hear that the game isn’t even ready to ship out tho… What’s the point of saying a release date if the game isn’t even in stock and ready to ship??Sorry just kinda taken a back XD never heard of having to wait a week or two more for the game to just barely ship AFTER the release date before.
Just finished playing.
Love the art/art style style. Not a fan of the actual story content. Far darker than I was expecting. Far darker than anything else I remember buying from JAST.
*Personally*, I'm fine with what they decided to censor, as none of it fits my particular tastes. Scat makes me just ill. That said, after finishing the final two (for me) paths, I'm feeling sort of ill regardless.
Hopefully text/background color will work as spoilers (though nothing *real* massive. I'd be tempted to say this should be a warning on the product info page for people on the type of content involved):
Some of the characters are evil. Truly twisted evil. Human trafficking, killing people for parts. While there are a few endings where some of the "decent" people get away, in no ending do they all, and in no ending do the bad guys get their comeuppance, or even stop doing what they are doing. (I did find a walkthrough, and all scenes are filled out, so know I got all of them.) I'll admit, in several (most) of the endings I was hoping the protagonist was going to grab a knife or something and go on a bloody rampage. Or at least try.
It's admittedly been a while, but I've played other games with "slavemaking", Sensei 2, Slave Pageant, Tsuki,etc.I don't know if it's just because I'm older, more empathetic, or forgetful, but they seemed much... lighter... From what I remember, the girls practically become willing participants halfway through their first scene, and any ending where somebody is truly "broken" feels like more of a failure ending than how the story was supposed to go. This time, not so much. To be honest, I was sort of expecting this to be practically a remake of a game I remember playing quite some time ago,, where the protagonist takes a job at a mansion where a mother and her daughters live, and the maid wakes you up with sex every day. And you basically end up wooing any of them. Yeah. Not so much.
That said, I'll also add that there were quite a few typos, and IIRC one entire sentence where it looked like the person had their right hand one position too far right on the keyboard. (i.e. "p" where "o" should have been, "," where there should have been an "m", and ";" where there should have been "l";s) Not sure how that makes it through in the modern world of spell checkers, unless you're like hex editing the text or something that prevents their use in the actual text being shown. That said, some of the other errors made it seem likely a spell checker was used at least in some places... badly. As far as I can remember nobody found anybody's various body parts mesmerizing, but apparently those parts had minds of their own, as they were frequently able to memorize people.
@Nathan: I'm just gonna say what I said on another forum. This title and its predecessors have an actual lesson in morality going in the background. I am sure you didn't miss the religious overtones through, and they actually make a point of references quite a few sins, especially the sin of onan.(yes, the beastiality isn't in there just for the sake of getting into people's fetishes, I actually believe it has a lot to do with the "abomination" sins and is actually there with the intent to draw into the 7 deadly sins, which all are present through the family) Anyway, I feel the reason why the family never truly gets punished is because it represents the darker reality of life. Evil doesn't always go punished. It exists and sometimes you are just powerless to do anything, there is no superman or batman thats going to just make it right. Sometimes you just have to survive and struggle against it the best you can, and then you can save yourself. If you look at the not-so-bad endings, they seem like they are "okay" but they really aren't. they drive home a lot of hidden themes and tragedy behind them (like mikako/mikoto's "happy" ending is grossly misunderstood in my perspective, it was actually rather cruel and dark, not as happy as they try to make it appear to be). Anyway, thats my two cents on why there is no "vengeance" or "punishing" them route. Evil never fully gets out or destroyed, as such, you can only believe in yourself and continue to push forward and if you don't fall to temptaion (cars/giving up/lusts) then you can find yourself in a happy position.
Agreed. I didn't really want to get into it due to spoilage, but I'd say there really weren't any *good* endings. Just less bad ones. Which is why I put "decent" in quotes, particularly due to that ending. In that ending in particular I'm not really sure they count as decent people any more. They're seriously messed up.
(and, of course, her ex-husband was sold for parts, and we know that without the protagonist there Mitarai was almost certainly snared, though I don't remember if in that ending it explicitly said so. And anybody with rational thought is probably dubious of the Mamiya's generosity in giving them a house in the first place. They aren't nice people. Even in that storyline the protagonist has been exposed to their machinations via Mikako's story of ensnarement and the whole wedding event. I'd sell that thing in an instant and move off-grid. Odds are it's got cameras everywhere and aphrodisiacs being pumped in through the ventilation... of course, they're most likely too messed up for rational thought.)
The fall to temptation argument is somewhat tempting to agree with, but I'd be inclined to argue the requirement that you have to peak in on the mistress, and support Sachie's gambling addiction *cough* investment *cough* to reach the happy ending runs counter to that. I'd also have to argue that still isn't really that good an ending. They're out and (mostly) normal. But still, Mikako/Mikoto are in horrible places, (due to no fault of their own) and her husband is still dead. The family is also free to continue entrapping additional victims. That's sort of a neutral "at least I managed to survive, but to heck with everybody else" ending. It may not be biblical, but I'll toss a quote. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing". They've looked into the face of evil and are doing nothing. A "good" ending (particularly if this is a moral play) would be if they at least tried to do something to stop them, even if they failed. It isn't about "Vengeance/punishment".
(and P.S. the final two endings I did were the two where Mitarai is the one that breaks the vase, the last one being the DVD one.)
The video one....I saw that one right before soiled bride....yeah, I took a 9 hour break after those ends.... not going into spoiler territory, but you can piece what happens to everyone you don't save based on the out come of other routes. To be honest, you can pretty much assume the bad ending that occurs is what happens when the MC doesn't manipulate the story. So any time you leave mitari alone, I think its safe to assume shes stuck for the tape/soiled bride ending. (just without the MC involvement) Not gonna lie, those endings made me way more upset than the gore ones did...I guess I'm just hyper sensitive to that stuff.
someone was talking earlier about the text not being a big deal in this series cus its a nukagi, but completely disagree, think the typos and such are important precisely because this story is extremely rich. The CGs are okay I guess if you want to fap and get off to whatever, but the dialogue and story telling is what makes this a master piece. There is a lot going on with everything, it gets pretty deep and philosophical in its own way. Some people might say I'm reading too much into it, except if you look at discipline and bible black, they are re-occurring themes and addressing the same sins and darker side of nature.
Really loved this game, it hit just about every emotion with the exception of really happy, I actually couldn't feel 100% happy about any ending for the reasons you addressed. Btw, I saved my gold key ending for last, that said I actually never got the red key ending before when I was playing it in japanese and that ending just made me...conflicted. Its technically a good end, but that depends on where your moral comfort lies.
Also about the peek/sachi thing, I'll address the sachi thing first cus its easier. Yes you knowngly support her, but it also brings karma. in both directions as you either can go best or worst from it. Your actions and good will influence what she does, so its actually not a bad thing in the end. Helping others comes back to help you, its her decision to accept it or not, and by doing the right choices, she too makes good ones as well. (Still don't like her much.) As for peeking well...dunno honestly. You get a chance to honestly confess and deal with those actions, but its a stretch to reason it all off.
@Nathan: the game you’re thinking of is probably Gloria, one of Himeya Soft’s titles.
@Dark_Shiki I apologize if some of the stuff I said that may have upset you, I disagreed with you not only because Starless is dear to me and I want people to enjoy it in the best possible way, but because I also think every commercially released product should adhere to some quality standards. I consider both the images and the frequent typos should be addressed. Feel free to disagree, it's just my opinion after all and that I see no point in further arguing.
Wait hold on a minute was the penis chopping thing cut cause I'm pretty sure graphic violence isn't illegal.
@Tototo if you want to be technical, since this all entirely fiction and no real groups or people have any basis in this game, and if they seem like there is its completely coincidental, nothing actually is illegal in it. May as well arrest people for novels that included violence or beasiality. People even write about underage and pedophillia in fiction, this is just getting discrimination due to there being pictures involved, even though again, its all fantasy. Also, in the official release, yes its cut. You won't be short on graphic content though. and if you look around enough, you don't really have to worry about missing anything either.
@Tototo The screen is all blurred, you can sort of see it.
I would add a few thoughts too on the actual game. I enjoyed reading the thoughts shared about the game and peoples personal analysis and experience.
I found the interesting thing for me the game shows that with cruel people and lots of money they can get away with anything once you cross them and like in real life their ins't anything you can really do about it, since every time you try to be proactive it leads to the trouble resulting in the bad endings. When you try escape or leave they will do what ever it takes to keep you there. I also think Marie influence on her two girls reflect two sides of her personality, taken to opposite extremes, the sadistic side in Marisa and the sensual side in Marika. The ending where Sachie saves you is like the only comeuppance you get, by seeing the frustration that you are leaving without being in slaved by the way the maintain their power, which to them is a total defeat. To add the MC says his main goal for what he does in the beginning is a girlfriend and to get that he wants all these other things to achieve it. In his good ending he achieves the goal that he wanted first and foremost, his primary goal which is what motivated him for these other ones. In essence getting the car, going college, his license, taking this job, was all for getting a girlfriend. Which he achieves in the best ending.
My favorite girl is Mitari, she is just the sweetheart of the game for me. She takes the job for her brothers medical fees and her personality is generally despised by the family, due to her caring nature.
If you kinda want some of Sei's thoughts on the game:
SS: I was thinking "it's about time I'd like to make another deep, dark ‘hentai game'" to start with, so I didn't really have a particular theme in mind. That said, figuring out how to fit in all that perversion is pretty tricky in and of itself.
TG: Because this time you're handling not just the visuals, but project planning and scenario writing as well?
SS: Yeah, it's been awhile since I received the offer to take such a position, so I took the opportunity when it arose. It's tough when no matter how much I do I still don't feel that the end is in sight, but I also see the merit in the ability to directly implement what I want to express in both the scenario and the visuals simultaneously.
TG: Could you tell us the key points of this new work?
SS: First is "ero"! Anyway, the ‘hentai level' in this is higher than in any of my previous works, so please look forward to that. Also, the number of graphic elements we're putting into this is several times the usual. I'll be happy if everyone anticipates that as well.