Hahahahahahaha.
High-fives Narg
OTOH, let’s hope he doesn’t use a kouryaku because Unicorn considers that if he reaches that point, that means the game was bad, so it fed him up.
As long as there is vengence…it get’s my vote, I likes teh vengenz :twisted:
But I really do like the artwork in Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashino.
Well, you’re now living proof that they seem serious, ne 
?
That right there sounds like a turnoff to me, mostly because I fear it will be the girls I like being shunted like that. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really care for the amount, but balance. If they all had 1-2 i wouldn’t care. It’s the clear unbalance that leaves a distaste in my mouth, usually because I’m always wanting to pick the girl that gets the least.
Shingo: Is there chances of getting more than one of these licenesed or is it a matter of just really pursuing one over the other (if even possible)?
Hayate no Gotoku has taught us that when a woman try to seduce you, you have to tell her : “sorry but I’m only interested in 2D girls” 
(ep 12, best dialogue ever)
Now it seems that nobody wants Sekai de Ichiban Dame na Koi, but we want the two other games 
(even if there is no twincest… :()
Hayate no Gotoku also taught us it’s illegal to say the names of any commerical product on air.
I went with Bullet Butlers because it looks the most interesting and Different to me. The others look to be more of your standard fare. While I’d probably get BB if you guys translate it the others I’d more than likely pass on.
Out of those three, I would absolutely buy Bullet Butlers. 8D While the other two have cute art, I’m not really interested in their stories. [EDIT] Okay, I’m not really interested in their summaries then!
Yeah but in fact we don’t really know the story of those games.
Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashino has many girls with their own problems and story, so we can expect something like YMK or Snow Sakura (depends of the type of personal problems they have).
Maybe I’m wrong but BB seems to focus on only one big story like Figure of hapiness for exemple. And that something that I didn’t like in FoH personnaly because when you restart the game to see the other endings, you have to see the same events again and again with only a few changes in the plot.
I don’t know how it is in the three games we can choose, but I like games like Yume Miru Kusuri or crescendo where right from the start you have to choose a specific path, so when you restart the game it’s like you play a different game.
At some point I would probably buy any of these 3, but for the one that sounds best to me is Bullet Butlers, with Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashino coming in a close second. The other one just doesn’t sound all that appealing.
Edit: Changed my vote accordingly.
Why’ I’m not seeing ruf’s Tsukutori, best Will-related game from the last year, on that list? …or maybe you already licensed it
Well I admit the game does grow on ya after awhile. I mean I don’t like Sumika too much… but she’s still cute. Especially in beach wear.
Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashino is on the top of my “Oh God, please license this!” list, so of course I voted for it. We need more translated ren’ai games!
All this talk about Bullet Butlers has made me curious about the title, even though it’s not my genre. Now that I know it isn’t a rape-fest (I HATE games that glorify rape!), I’d actually consider picking the game up if it’s licensed.
Sekai de Ichiban NG (dame) na Koi sounds like another sex-romp. We’ve got plenty of those already, thank you very much. Let’s give some other genres a chance at licensing (esp. ren’ai! )
From what I’ve played of Harukani so far (~15 hours on one route) the formula seems closer to “cute girls who need helping, with the power of the protagonist being a generally Nice Guy (which will eventually lead to sex at the end)”. Other routes may differ, but my overall impression is that the sex is a bit of an afterthought (Narg, Baldo, or anyone else who’s played the game, please feel free to correct me on this if I’m wrong).
For what it’s worth I’m enjoying the game, though it’s incredibly mellow and high on the cliche meter to the point where I’m finding it a bit hard to care about the story. I’d say the superb music and art overshadow the quality of the scenario, which is good, though not great.
It’s certainly a possibility, but for the sake of this poll we’re assuming that just one of the three will be coming in the (relatively) near term.
Let me try to explain the structure of each game a bit better without delving too far into spoiler territory:
Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashino is a game where you play a sensitive “nice guy” type with a slightly troubled past that helps him empathize with the various students who come into his charge at the high class girls’ school where he lands his first teaching job. Very early on in the game you’re asked to choose which of two dorms you’ll live in, and based on that selection the set of characters you’ll interact with through the rest of the game is determined (on the route I’m currently playing, two of the heroines don’t appear at all despite presumably still being in the protagonist’s classes on a daily basis). Someone who has played more of the game can probably explain this better, but from looking at walkthroughs it seems like some of the routes are more related to each other (share more in common), while others are completely separate branches. There are six endings in all.
The game is a “pure love” genre game that takes place in a school for high class girls. If you’ve seen Maria-sama ga Miteru you have an idea of the sort of characters and interactions you’ll see in this game, only with less overt yuri overtones (the protagonist is male, after all). The characters include a tsundere loli-esque type (think Louise from Zero no Tsukaima), an introverted vaguely Rei Ayanami type, her sociopathic friend who is afraid to talk to anyone else, a seemingly perfect type, a genki, sporty “nose for news” type, and a mature, motherly/sisterly type.
The game is full of cliches associated with the genre (remember the vase-breaking scene from the beginning of Ouran High School Host Club? It happens here), and while I’m not finding them painfully repetitive they’re certainly familiar territory.
Production-wise, the game looks and feels really, really nice - almost to the point of overshadowing the actual story, as mentioned above. It’s divided into chapters (as are most eroge), but these are bookended by title cards and fancy transitional effects. There’s a lot of fun “paper” doll character effects and some nice SD cut-ins as well. I’d recommend downloading the demo movie for a taste of this, or if you’re really curious the playable introductory demo is here.
Sekai de Ichiban Dame na Koi I’m less familiar with, having only had the chance to play through the introduction thus far. It seems the game’s popularity is derived from the convincing portrayal of its weak yet sympathetic protagonist; I’m wondering if it’s drawing on the same themes that made Densha Otoko so popular (though the protagonist here isn’t an otaku). The game has four endings, one for each of the main heroines, plus a bit of extra material when all routes are complete. It seems to be a pretty straightforward ADV formulation in this regard - basically four different stories told in parallel depending on who you’re aiming for.
The production values seem quite nice, roughly on par with Harukani. There’s a similar chapter-based structure as well. One distinct feature is that character faces are shown in the corner of the screen when they’re talking, in addition to their standing poses in the middle. It’s also notable that the protagonist (and all other male characters in the game) are voiced; the progatonist in Harukani is not, though all the other male characters are.
The game’s four heroines are: the spunky landlady schoolgirl with a height complex who’s the daughter of the hostess the protagonist initially falls in love with, her sexy homeroom teacher, a surprisingly aggressive OL (“office lady”, secretary) at the company where the protagonist used to work, and a glamorous rich girl who comes to live at the same apartment where the protagonist ends up staying. Apparently regardless of who you choose to pursue you wind up in a relationship that involves more than just you and your chosen target.
Downloads for the game can be found here.
Bullet Butlers is the title I’m most familiar with of the three. Structurally, thematically and in terms of visual presentation the game can be compared to Fate/stay night - both feature serious themes set against backgrounds of an epic historical struggle between light and dark, both are inspired by western fantasy (though Fate is much more overtly Japanese in tone), and both are divided into three major plot lines that tell different versions of the same story. In the case of Bullet Butlers, the third arc can only be unlocked when the other two are complete. There is a fourth ending that branches off of one of the plot lines as well.
The three plot lines of Bullet Butlers tell the story of the protagonist’s relationship with the game’s three main heroines: a young elven wizard’s apprentice of a minor noble house, her butler, and the protagonist’s master, a candidate for succession to the heroic lineage of the Dragoneut race. Through the development of their relationships the protagonist and his friends must contend with the growing threat of the cult of a dead god, and the ambitions of a fallen war hero bent on rewriting history.
I’m not quite sure where to go with a Bullet Butlers description beyond this, but I can point to a review I wrote for those interested. Like Sekai Ichi all of the characters in Bullet Butlers are voiced, and the game’s production values are quite high (at least as high as the other two, if not more so). Downloads for the game can be found here.
This was a decision from higher up the chain of command so I’m not exactly sure why it wasn’t included. According to the (terribly flawed) instrument of measurement that is Erogamescape, Tsukutori has the lowest median score of the four games (77, to Bullet Butlers’ 78, Sekai Ichi’s 82, and Harukani’s 84). It also has the fewest number of reviews of all four games. I don’t think the EGS numbers influenced the decision, but they may indicate why interest in the title wasn’t quite as intense.
Thanks for the clarification. Just wondering because it looks like you’re splitting the fanbase into one of two camps.
That wasn’t the intent of the poll; I’m not very good at making these things, but the idea was to ask people to make the hard choice and prioritize which they would want if they could only have one. I think ultimately the comments in the thread will be more useful than the actual poll numbers - I hope people will continue to post their more nuanced opinions than the poll options allow.
If anyone has suggestions for a more effective polling technique I’d be happy to hear them.
Edit: The poll has been updated with a more nuanced range of voting options; the “re-voting” feature has also been enabled - but it seems all the original votes were erased as well, so if you’d like to vote again for the first time that would be great. I hope this helps. ^^;;
Votes for BB and Sekai
Even with the option to vote for all 3, I will not do it.
Sekai is not worth the time and resources IMHO. I can’t even play Devil’s Advocate for it, because I wasted $80 for the miserable thing. I’d rather PP do another third title than Sekai. Terrible. We wanna go forward with progress, not backwards.
Of course it seems someone thinks differently from me… I think I have an idea who it is too. You rebel.
Ditto Narg. Butler Brothers would be nice. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a title that interest me from a story impact mode. So long in fact that none of the titles are available commerically (this does not include fan translated patches or Japanese games). It is something the community is lacking on the shelves now. Shingo’s explanation only reinforced this. With Hayate no Gotoku being so popular butlers are the “in” thing right now too so that is likely to continue depending on whether anyone pics up a US anime license (pity Geneon can’t…this would have been a great title for them)…
Haruka as I said is distant second. After a better explanation. it’s not quite as distant, but I’d much prefer Butler Brothers. My criticism on h-scene balance still remains though.
And yes, I’d not waste time with Sekai. You could find any similar styled game somewhere. Well that does kind of ring true with Haruka being so cliche, but the storyline is also has some intersting gameplay and the number of titles that focus on character relations vs not is quite small.