Or not.
Hahaha, wasn’t expecting to Key to produce a genuine April Fool’s for Rewrite. Glad to see that there’s only going to be an all-ages version.
But speaking of genuine announcements, there’s RaiL Soft’s Albatross Log (Albatross Koukairoku/???). The concept at least looks very promising.
Well… finished Subarashiki Hibi earlier today, and I’ve definitely found a new best eroge. That’s not to say that it’s quite perfect, but rather that the parts I value most (the quality of the writing and the scenario) are at an extremely high level, with everything else being at least very good. Until I finish Saihate no IMA, I’m not prepared to say that Subarashiki Hibi is the best eroge ever, but it’s certainly looking like that will be the case. I’m very very interested to hear what everyone else who has played it thinks.
I’ll try and clarify what sort of game it is, as the homepage/OP/demo is somewhat misleading, and there’s a bit of information out there that’s just plain wrong.
Yuri: Not really. There are yuri routes in it, but they only make up 15% of the game or so, namely the first half of Down the Rabbit Hole, and Kimika’s route in Looking-glass Insects. I’d argue that the game only has 3 yuri ero-scenes in it out of 24 (note that the number might be a bit misleading, as they’ve split some scenes into two or three parts, and others just have nudity in them).
Denpa (same applies to a lesser degree for the utsuge components): Yes, but it varies a lot between the different stories (one route in particular It’s my own Invention is completely off the wall). I’d recommend outright avoiding Subahibi if you dislike eroges of that nature, as some routes are almost nothing but that (and also, some of the endings (including a few of the ‘true’ ones for each scenario) are very depressing).
Comedy: It’s present in all of the scenarios, although moreso in some of the lighter ones and in the earlier parts of each story. Although it’s never the central element, like most of the great story-based eroges, it’s very well handled, with a wide variety of jokes/parodies/4th wall breakages/bizarre artistic depicitions.
Philosophical game: Yes. The story is an exploration of some of Wittgenstein’s philosophies (particularly highlighted in Jabberwocky 2 in Yuki’s ‘???’ speech, and in Tsui no Sora II (the game’s final ending)), although Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There also have an important role, in addition to various other literary, as well as biblical and mythological references. None of the works are required reading though, as the game does provide the context for each reference, but it’s definitely helpful in order to fully grasp what the writer means in certain sections.
‘Collection of 6 short stories dealing with love’: No.
Story: I can’t really say anything beyond what’s mentioned on the homepage without going into spoiler territory. The game does contain the whole of Tsui no Sora in it, in a vastly expanded and improved form, as well as a lot of additional material that clarifies a lot of the events and provides a much deeper perspective on them. Although I was expecting the Tsui no Sora part of Subahibi to be identical, as there’s a lot of remixed BGM/CGs on similar angles, the sequence of events and outcomes of scenes differs a lot between the games. That said, the scenario does a fairly good job of making itself difficult to recommend. In addition to the extensive and important philosophical/literary/religious discussions, most people are likely to find some of the scenes in it rather offputting (not just referring to the ero-scenes). For a story-based game, the depictions are appropriately restrained and most do need to be in there for the game to work, but it still needs to be mentioned. Not sure exactly how long it took me to clear - possibly somewhere in the region of 30 hours?
Other elements: The production values are very high. Only the female characters and Takuji are voiced, but the total number of voice files (25657) is still around double the number of the average full-price eroge. All the seiyuu do a good job, but particular mention needs to be made of Kawashima Rino’s performance as Yuki (on the same level as her role as Haru in G-Senjou no Maou). The number of CGs (160, not including variations although that figure contains some (very creative) SD CGs) is also well above average, as is the number of BGM tracks (39) and number of songs (7). The quality of each of the three is always high, although the opening and ending songs, and the CGs towards the end of some of the routes are fantastic. KeroQ have certainly put a lot of money into this eroge, and deservedly so. Realistically, (as much as I’d like them to try) I can’t ever see KeroQ or Sca-ji (planner, main scenario writer) ever making an eroge that surpasses this.
Incidentally, particularly given the content, I’m amazed at the reviews Subarashiki Hibi’s been getting. On EGS, it’s currently the second highest ranked eroge (behind YU-NO) and 13th overall, with a mean of 88.97 and a median of 94 from 67 votes. I hope this means after Sakura no Uta, there’ll be another KeroQ eroge in the works.
HA - that was a good one! 
I’m not expecting MAKURA having continued work on Sakura no Uta beyond Haru no Yuki. Since my copy of SubaHibi has not arrived here yet (and I’m trying to avoid every spoiler possible and all the good ratings and reviews make it even harder to endure the wait now than up until the release date >_<) I’m still wondering whether any details from the SubaHibi pre-order campaign attached Korie Riko x Yuzuriha book are known by now? Was it just some random talk or are both working on a new project under KEROQ’s Brand flag after all?
Well, in Sca-ji’s interview in the Subarashiki Hibi artbook tokuten, he mentioned that Sakura no Uta’s scenario will be 1.5 (and possibly up 2) times the length of Subarashiki Hibi’s. I’m assuming that means that they’re still working on it (hopefully).
As for the Korie Riko x Yuzuriha book, there’s 40 pages or so of sketches, as well as an interview (as of yet, the eroge’s title isn’t open to the public, but from what they’re saying it’ll be a school based slice of life comedy, that contains some yuri).
So, much like before all there remains are hopes for Sakura no Uta
So I take that as no Brand announced for either then? But it sounds good, slice of life comedy/romance is the best for Yuzuriha to work with (thinking of the Yumine scenario of Supre~me Candy).
No mention of the brand yet. The interview certainly made the game sound fun, and since the only Korie Riko eroge I’ve (attempted to) play is the (pretty awful/gave up after an hour/want my 999 yen back) Despair Witch, I’d like to see the artist’s work in a game that does them justice.
Incidentally, after clearing Subarashiki Hibi, I noticed that three of the CGs on the game’s getchu page aren’t actually in the game or don’t appear in that form specifically, the CG of Zakuro in the set of 4 CGs, adjacent to the game introduction, and CGs 2 (the CG is in the game, but Zakuro is wearing her school uniform, not her casual clothes) and CG 13, suggesting that the scenario had been trimmed at the last moment to cut out what was presumably an extra Yuki/Zakuro route that would have broken the game’s overall story (in light of the final ending, I think it would have been impossible to include, unless it was added to the first Down the Rabbit Hole route). I thought the Yuki x Zakuro content in the game was well handled + sufficient, I’m still hoping the extra scenario manages to find its way into a Subahibi fandisc..
Well, I only hope it’s not going to be PETITKEROQ…Terebi no Kieta Hi was so much potential wasted so early on that it hurt while I continued my way through.
Supre~me Candy is the way to go then 
Also a SubaHibi FD wouldn’t surprise (and certainly is welcomed as far as I’m concerned) given how KEROQ pulled-off similar for their previous two projects. I know they official gave up on it, but I still would love (and have not all hopes crushed by the announcement a while ago) they’d get back on Kage to Kage one day as well.
KEROQ talk aside and speaking of upcoming releases I didn’t realize light already announced a release date (2010/06/25 - man, June is shaping into a financial nightmare month >_<) for Soranica Ele
After finishing Subahibi, Supre~me Candy’s certainly on my to buy list. I’m not expecting it to be on the same level, but it looks rather good + should tide me over while I wait for their next release.
I’m very interested in Soranica Ele, but I’ll probably wait for reviews, as the writer’s only previous eroge is ARS:MAGNA- (where they were one of a team of three writers), which doesn’t seem to have been particularly good. The upcoming light game I will be grabbing as soon as it’s released though is Majino Complex, the third entry in the Sakako/Don-chan trilogy. Both of the earlier games were quite problematic in places but easily compensated for any flaws with their originality, sheer entertainment value, great characters and outstanding performances by the seiyuu. Compared to other low-price games, they are rather substantial in length/offer good value for money, as well as being a lot more than the usual collection of ero-scenes strung together with a thin plot (Noesis :roll:), and being available for dl purchase on the release day/not having to pay shipping costs is also a big plus.
Also, in addition to the soundtrack, the other tokuten for Key’s Kud Wafter (coming out in June) is a trial version of Rewrite. I hope that means we’ll get it before the end of the year, if not in Q3.
Unable to draw a comparisson between both (since SubaHibi has yet to show up here >_<) but Supre~me Candy is awesome. Of course not all of the heroine routes are made of the same or equal levels of awe but they all work together well while bringing in new aspects that turned into a decent MAKURA Soft which I wouldn’t want to miss…and Jako is made of win there’s no doubt about that and also no way around completing Supre~me Candy without ending up in deep adoration over her, believe me.
Or it’s just one of those evil marketing tricks by (Key) Visual Art’s to ensure those still undecided over Kud Wafter to go for it if it’s just for the trial, while they’re buying themself more time for the completion of the real thing (which is actually what I’m imputing the Kud Wafter to represent from the very day it’s been announced…not as if I’m going to miss out to get my pre-order placed for this one soon anyways though).
Also while the Official site doesn’t confirm that by now Getchu launched an (soon up for pre-order/placeholder) page for Applique Soft’s upcoming Tasogare no Sinsemilla. According to their site this Soft is slated for 2010/07/22 (pre-order to start 29th this month). This project looks very interesting to me, especially with the Concerto Note team back for it.
On other AKABEi Brand related release notes - Getchu says Rui wa Tomo wo Yobu Full Voice Edition slated by AKATSUKI WORKS for 2010/09/23 while the FD will be released on the very same date.
Annnd Navel updated on behalf of Oretsuba AfterStory with Spec’s, Special (banners). Nothing to get excited over that’s for sure, but I’m looking forward to each and every bit of news concerning their two upcoming works.
Ah thanks, that sounds convincing enough. Subahibi’s been enough to turn me into a permanent fan of Sca-ji’s writing and KeroQ’s/Makura’s artists, so I’ll probably grab it when I place my next order.
Hm, I think it could well be that too. Now that Key have released a game this year, there’ll be less pressure to release Rewrite soon, and in addition, they also wouldn’t want to release the two games only a few months apart from each other. Speaking of Key though, does anyone know why the April 30 re-release of Planetarian is 6090 yen? It doesn’t seem to come with any tokuten, nor an extended story, new art etc.
Kinshiiku’s free all-ages game, Kono Yo de Mottomo Zankoku na Kiss is getting an extended 18+ remake, Otome no Higeki wa Zankoku na Kiss. The original turned out to be a pretty good 45 minuteish story, but I’m not sure if the basic concept will last over a multi-hour story + the addition of ero-scenes is likely to turn it into a fundamentally different and much more generic eroge.
And speaking of free games, I forgot to mention Sunderbolt’s Last Purify earlier. Only a little way into it, but it’s already looking like it’ll be this year’s best free VN.
My two cents worth on White Album 2: Introductory Chapter…
Leaf already gives an outline of the overall story on the game’s homepage, so there’s no need to add anything to that. As the story is told as a flashback, there are no choices, it’s very very light on ero only 1 scene, and the synopsis kind of tells you what sort of ending you can expect as well. I also wouldn’t consider it to be a ‘music’ eroge. Although there’s a musical performance at the school festival, music’s really the backdrop against which the character drama unfolds, rather than being the central focus. The scenario’s only real weakness, is that Maruto Fumiaki doesn’t appear to know very much about music, and in the first half of the game, leading up to the school festival performance, is only able to give rather light and uninspiring descriptions of the rehearsal process and performance. As a result, the first half’s a bit flat (and compares rather unfavourably with the introductory part of Kira Kira), but in the second half once the musical part takes a backseat to the characters, Maruto’s writing and planning skills acquit themselves very well and confirm my decision to preorder closing chapter, which should hopefully crank the drama factor up by several more notches. Although the music, and particularly songs are fantastic, it feels like the game might have been even better if Maruto was able to write a similar sort of story within a framework he was more suited to. [Edit: Forgot to add that the game’s other major themes are love triangles and cheating + the protagonist is also rather ?? (I’m sure all those three will be even more noticeable in closing chapter), so if you dislike an eroge centred on those concepts, stay well clear.]
The main concern about the introductory chapter is the lack of content. The game only has 27 CGs, and in addition, for some reason Nakamura Takeshi’s lineart is as best average, at worst rather dire, whilst the colouring and backgrounds are both very well done. The lack of CGs is somewhat made up for by the large number of backgrounds, and the numerous costumes each heroine has (iirc Setsuna has around 8 in IC? - however this isn’t the case for all of the sub-characters, who also only appear to have a single fixed tachie pose) but since almost all of those assets will be reused in closing chapter, it doesn’t really make up for the lack of unique content in the introductory chapter. Since there aren’t any full-size sample CGs on the homepage, this CG (non-spoiler) should give some idea of how bad the lineart can be. Leaf’s estimated playtime for WA2IC was approximately 10 hours. I think I took around 8-9, and a native speaker would obviously be able to get through it quicker than that. (IC contains a little under 20% of White Album 2’s overall scenario). Closing chapter won’t be released until the end of this year at the very earliest, so as there’s no rush to play it I’d recommend waiting a few months for the second-hand price to fall before buying it.
The limited edition comes with a 180 page hardcover light novel, with the WA2IC story, and additional parts outside the game’s timeline told from Kazusa’s perspective. Haven’t had a chance to have a close read of it yet, but it should hopefully shed a bit more light on what she’ll be doing in-between the two games.
Both DEAR DROPs and PARA-SOL have been delayed to June. Guess I’m going to have to reevaluate my April titles. Guess just Akatsuki no Goei now.
I wonder what is taking them so long (IIRC last time before they announced the April delay they had a Master Up notice expressed somewhere on their site which went down again…). CARNELIAN clearly is kept occupied with (this) work as her Doujin activities of recent times (read: ever since ORBIT announced the PARA-SOL project) shows…hope it’s worth the delays ultimately though.
On brighter news…Navel announced the release date for Oretsuba AfterStory! 2010/07/30…time enough to get started with the original/main 'till then >_<
Applique now confirms the release date (2010/07/22) for Tasogare no Sinsemilla and also announced details for the firstpress ltd. edition (Tasogare no Sinsemilla -Wissenschaft3- book gotta love the random usage of German these days) plus pre-order campaign goods (booklet with 4 pages scheduled short scenario written by Kizuki scenario writter plus Odawara Hakone main artist drawn 2 pages Short Manga…and also a Seima drawn 2 pages Yonkoma is part of the deal for this serial numbered pre-order booklet).
July shapes to a nice month Bishoujo Soft-wise.
And now STARLESS has also been delayed (until Summer - no actual release date or month yet) + that’s in addition to the earlier delays for Evolimit and Amatsu Misora ni!..
Excellent, I’ll definitely be preordering that (if) I finish Oretsuba in time. Finally got around to ordering it, but not sure how I’ll be able to find the 40 or so hours it’ll take to clear before then.
I think Subarashiki Hibi is an 100% game as well. No other score would be appropriate, as it’s that much better than any other eroge I’ve played. (YMMV may vary significantly though) After I finished every chapter, I kept thinking ‘there’s no way that the next chapter can match what’s come before’. In every instance I was wrong… The final ending managed to outdo not just everything that had let up to it, but any other eroge ending I’ve read.
Two other things… Steal my heart is approximately half complete, and Fan-na’s upcoming eroge, Anaheim Girl’s Love Story is very close to completion. [I enjoyed one of their earlier eroges, [url=http://www.fan-na.com/product/sketch/index.html]Rough Sketch - She sings at the end of the world[/url] a lot (was also one of the first untranslated games I played, so it holds some nostalgia value too). Like Rough Sketch, I’m hoping Anaheim will be a good, slightly off the beaten track game.]
Barely announced a couple of weeks ago ‚ge already has release details up for their anniversary remake of Kimi ga Ita Kisetsu. Slated for 2010/06/25 Getchu already has a pre-order page with demo movie up…??? O_o
re: Oretsuba AfterStory
Guess we’re in the same boat then. I really should get started on Oretsuba as it rests on top of my backlog and if it were not for SubaHibi to arrive here shortly…guess I should just get started with Ou Jyakuson’s WHITE ALBUM Copyshi in the meantime…
You’ve got to be kidding me! I’d love to read your thoughts on this KEROQ baby if it were not for me avoiding any kind of spoilers for this one on meticulous manners now >_<
Also on somewhat related notes - KEROQ / MAKURA announced their DreamParty Tokyo 2010 Haru line-up. SubaHibi audio goodness with PIXELBEE involved and just for the record KEROQ/MAKURA produces some of the most delicious CD releases (i.e. the Supre~me Candy Soundtrack with its trickey Jako cover :oops: )
Also Littlewitch announced to be there and keeps their line-up under the “Thank you for the nine years” theme…not a big fan of their work but it’s nevertheless a pitty they had to call it an end though…
… and Feng’s Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi brings it up to six major April titles that have been delayed.
Dieselmine’s planning competition has bought forth some interesting (and highly unmarketable) proposals (imagine trying to make/sell a nukige, that doesn’t show any exposed skin in the HCGs)… if these are the ones that made it past the initial selection process, then some of the rejected proposals must have been spectacular.
Monochrome Metal Neko have posted a short preview video of Corpse Maid. Aside from showing that it’s far above the quality of the average 2000 yen dlsales eroge, it also reveals the presence of a gore filter in the options menu.
Eushully have released their novelisations of Genrin no Kishougun 1 + 2 and Ikusa Megami ZERO for free download. I assumed that these would just be 10-15 minute summaries of each game’s major plot points that have VERITA, but instead all of them are quite substantial (around 1-2 light novels worth of text). Compared to the originals, all of the gameplay and decision points have been cut out, the characters are represented with a fixed headshot instead of a full tachie, there are no voices, and compared to in-game, only the central part of each CG is used (that said, they still include a rather large chunk of the game’s CGs, as well as including some of the ero-scenes) and only some of the BGM tracks. It’s obviously no substitute for playing the game, but on the plus side, they’ll only take several hours, instead of several days/weeks to get through (I don’t think I’ll ever get around to finishing Genrin 1, not to mention 2, so I’ll probably be relying on the light novelisations for those two, before I start VERITA.)
The homepage for Atelier Kaguya’s CLASSY?CRANBERRY’S is now open, and in addition to the release date (June 25th), the story is now available. I’m certainly not going to rule this out completely from the story side of things, but after reading the plot summary, it seems to be rather reminiscent of a certain other (not particularly good, but rather famous) eroero artgame from 2008.
Edit: Pre-site for Majino Complex is open! Sdere Spartan Renai ADV wwwwwwww yep, purchase decision confirmed. 
Out of this month’s new announcements, the biggest one is obviously the PC port of STEINS;GATE (July 30), with new CGs (no additional scenario).
In addition, there’s Axanael, a Dark Russian Roulette themed, Nitro+ game from the Sumaga team, BALDR SKY DiveX “DREAM WORLD”, a BALDR SKY fandisc, with various additional to the original (unlike Dive 1+2, Hiei Murasaki isn’t the only writer), Taiyou no Promia, from the second-tier Pulltop team (+ CARNIVAL/SWAN SONG artist) under the new brand SEVEN WONDER (doesn’t appear to be connected to Will though), a Sakura Sakura fandisc, a Shin Koihime Musou sequel, re-release of CHAOS;HEAD as part of Nitro+'s ‘The Best’ series (unclear if it contains any content from NOAH), Kono Uta ga Owattara - When this song is over - a horror/suspense game from a new brand, Whirlpool’s Ryoufuu no Melt - Where wishes are drawn to each other and Sonicomi, featuring Nitro+'s mascot and a few other things.
Albatross Log caught my eye in particular. The setting + larger cast (other RaiL games only had tachie for the four heroines + in Kagerou’s case, for the helpers) seems like it will make the game more appealing to those outside Liar/RaiL’s core fanbase. Like Douskoi!, the art isn’t all that good, but RaiL Soft’s writer, Mareni, is several order of magnitude better (and many many times more difficult to read). The music is also in safe hands, so it’s probably more a question of how many people are willing to buy an eroge with an unusual setting and extremely dense text, as opposed to quality issues.
Demo movie for Kud Wafter is up…cute as expected theme song performance by Suzuta Miyako.
On a random somewhat Soft related upcoming bit of news (which totally made my day ^^) KEROQ artist Suzuri announced the NSFW Tennenseki Comic1 line-up…SubaHibi goodness must have and here’s hoping the other participating talents out of their staff cough karory cough will join that theme!
On a somewhat related note, it seems that the Rewrite trial is not going to be released as a public download, and will only be available as a tokuten for Kud Wafter. Nice sales tactic :P, but it makes me a bit more suspicious about Kud Wafter itself (or more particularly the story - can’t see anything else being a problem).
Sca-ji’s also mentioned on his twitter page that there are plans for a Subahibi fanbook. I don’t normally buy them, but in this case I’ll definitely make an exception, with the expectation that they’ll shed some light on the planning/behind the scenes stories.
A very short trial is up for Kurai Heya. This screenshot is representative of the game’s overall format (at least so far), emphasising the novelistic aspect over the other elements. I’ll wait for a longer (this was only 5-10 minutes or so), more polished demo before I make a final decision, but so far the writing’s very strong, and it appears to be coupled with a rather interesting story too.
In dlsales news, in addition to FifteenHounds, the dl version of another seemingly rather high quality doujin eroge, Yume no Ukihashi (based on the Tale of Genji), was released on Sunday.