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English Translated Japanese Visual Novel/ADV Thread

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ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Alright, the game I've been playing is called Dating Ariane. It's free to play.

Believe me, it's hilarious and unnecessarily horny.
 

Jomjom

Banned
Count me amongst the rank of people who have played Saya. Horrifying yet engrossing! Thanks for the recommendation!

I need something much MUCH more light-spirited now. Suggest something to me VN GAF!
 
ULTROS! said:
I've been playing this non-Japanese 3D date sim, it's hilarious and there are R-rated stuff (nudity, semi-explicit sex scenes). I hate to admit it but it's damn addicting.

Er... Is it safe to post the name of the game at least?

If Saya no Uta is safe to post and even have a thread, I can't imagine why Dating Ariane would be unsafe.
 

tiff

Banned
ULTROS! said:
Alright, the game I've been playing is called Dating Ariane. It's free to play.

Believe me, it's hilarious and unnecessarily horny.
I think I've actually played that before.

All I remember is that it didn't really work very well.
 

iavi

Member
About how long does it take to complete "Quartett"? Trying to figure out how much time I need I need to close myself off from the world for.
 

Jintor

Member
Saw this on RockPaperShotgun, from the people who made Digital: A Love Story. Probably worth looking into.

Also, some of you bastards need to play Embric.
 

iavi

Member
Quartett's got some seriously amazing artwork to it. I'm sitting here wishing that the game had an anime adaptation because of it. I'd watch.
 

abusori

Member
Jintor said:
Saw this on RockPaperShotgun, from the people who made Digital: A Love Story. Probably worth looking into.

Also, some of you bastards need to play Embric.

Yeah, I played "don't take it personally..." the other day, it's short but very good. I recommend it.
 
I finished all the DS visual novels/adv I have on me (all the Phoenix Wrights/ace attorney games, Hotel Dusk, again: eye of providence, Trace Memory, all the Laytons, 999, Ghost Trick, and Time Hollow), but I'm still craving for more!

Has anyone tried Lux-Pain? I wanted to try it but I hear to localization is horrible -- which is the only thing keeping me from purchasing it.

also, how are the Jake Hunter games?

Is there anything I might be overlooking (waiting on Nintendo of america to localize The Last Window)?
 
Mockingbird said:
I finished all the DS visual novels/adv I have on me (all the Phoenix Wrights/ace attorney games, Hotel Dusk, again: eye of providence, Trace Memory, all the Laytons, 999, Ghost Trick, and Time Hollow), but I'm still craving for more!

Has anyone tried Lux-Pain? I wanted to try it but I hear to localization is horrible -- which is the only thing keeping me from purchasing it.

also, how are the Jake Hunter games?

Is there anything I might be overlooking (waiting on Nintendo of america to localize The Last Window)?

Lux-Pain was good. It's kinda got a Persona 3 visual novel feel to it, the story was not bad. Yes, the translation wasn't that great. It didn't match up with the spoken dialogue.

Jake Hunter was pretty poor, all things considering. It's a game that's older than PW. I actually found the retro-factor in it appealing, but that's an acquired taste.

The Last Window will never be localized. Cinq is dead. Just get an import EU copy.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
So apparently, that Demonsbane game is finally out. Anyone heard anything about it? Specifically, is it actually a good game, or is it pretty much just smut?
 

InfiniteNine

Rolling Girl
Chacranajxy said:
So apparently, that Demonsbane game is finally out. Anyone heard anything about it? Specifically, is it actually a good game, or is it pretty much just smut?
Well I'll probably get it in tomorrow so I'll give you the heads up when I play through it a bit.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
ugh. I tried playing through Eve Burst Error last night. God that game is boring. Both that and ADAM: The Double Factor are. The premises are interesting, but the writing is awful and it takes too goddamn long to get anywhere. And while it might make me sound like a dummy, there just isn't enough visual stimulus in those games. I loved 999 so I know I'm into this stuff... even more so without the puzzle solving... it's just that the games I have tried outside of that have been pretty weak. I'm hoping Demonsbane is what I'm looking for, but I don't wanna gamble on it.
 

Danj

Member
Chacranajxy said:
So apparently, that Demonsbane game is finally out. Anyone heard anything about it? Specifically, is it actually a good game, or is it pretty much just smut?

Assuming JAST USA processes my order in a timely fashion, I should get the download edition sometime this weekend. I don't think it's one of those "just smut" games, I'll post on here my experiences with it once I get it.
 

Danj

Member
My Demonbane order finally got processed, so I've downloaded it from JAST USA and got started playing. Fortunately it's a Bank Holiday here today so I don't have to go to work :)
 

Lain

Member

Danj

Member
Demonbane:

Finished Chapter 1, so here's my impressions so far.

  • The game is divided into Chapters.
  • Some of the BGM music in the first part of Chapter 1 is pretty good, gives it a kind of film noir/murder mystery/horror ambience.
  • There are a few video cutscenes in this chapter, and the one with dialog is subtitled.
  • There's only one choice point in Chapter 1.
  • Backgrounds look nice, although they're mostly rendered CG.
  • The male protagonist is voiced, as are a couple of the bad guys.
  • Chibi Al Azif is cute~

It's not entirely without problems though:

  • The main game engine doesn't do line breaks at hyphens (there is one instance in Chapter 1 where this makes things look a bit weird) and the Backlog doesn't do line breaks properly at all.
  • The dialog where you can select which characters' voices are heard doesn't seem to work.
  • Wiki lists a voice actor for Winfield, Ruri's butler, but his voice seems to be absent (at least in Chapter 1). I guess this might be a glitch due to the voice selector not working.
 

cress2000

Member
I'm finally onto my second VN: Higurashi, and I can't put the damn thing down.

Out of curiosity, I watched the first four episodes of the anime after finishing the first chapter and was very underwhelmed. The VN is totally the way to go.
 

Danj

Member
ULTROS! said:
Alright, the game I've been playing is called Dating Ariane. It's free to play.

Believe me, it's hilarious and unnecessarily horny.

I googled this up and while the rest looks OK, the face looks unnervingly creepy. Reminds me of Michael Jackson or something. Bleurgh.
 
There's a trial of Kara no Shoujo up at Mangagamer's site. I'm not very bothered by the lack of voices, and the translation is pretty decent.
http://www.siliconera.com/2011/06/19/before-you-buy-investigate-a-kara-no-shoujo-trial-version/

I also see they're redoing Edelweiss's script. That was the first game I played by them that made me do a double take at how laden with typos, bad grammar/spelling, etc it was. It's good that the quality of their localizations has gone up!

Aksys was asked about the Otome game survey they had a while back and said to "wait until Anime Expo."
http://www.siliconera.com/2011/06/18/so-about-that-aksys-otome-game-survey/
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
I tried the Kara no Shoujo demo.

Yo. This is gonna be freakin' good. I really liked the writing, the dark tone, the visual style, the music... everything, really. It was giving me flashbacks to the storytelling in 999, honestly.

So I'm pretty excited for this one. There's some fuckin' in this game, but it's clearly not a porn game... if that makes any sense.

It's out June 29th... I'm really thinking about buying it day 1.

B60E0934-C9DB-4D1C-A8F2-E7C252CB8BF3.jpg


Please look forward to it *bow*
 

Danj

Member
Chacranajxy said:
I tried the Kara no Shoujo demo.

Yo. This is gonna be freakin' good. I really liked the writing, the dark tone, the visual style, the music... everything, really.

I've been checking it out as well and I agree with all of this. Though I still haven't got to the end of the trial version yet!

Chacranajxy said:
So I'm pretty excited for this one. There's some fuckin' in this game, but it's clearly not a porn game... if that makes any sense.

Makes perfect sense... it kinda feels a bit like a TYPE-MOON game (Tsukihime, Fate/Stay Night etcetera). The cover image you posted even looks kinda TYPE-MOON-y.

Chacranajxy said:
It's out June 29th... I'm really thinking about buying it day 1.

B60E0934-C9DB-4D1C-A8F2-E7C252CB8BF3.jpg


Please look forward to it *bow*

I'll have to see what the state of my finances are like but I might buy it as well. I really like this "notebook" system, and there have been plenty of choice points already as I've played through the demo.
 
JAST has a pre-AX press release up.

ax2011_nitro_announce.jpg


Nitro+JAST USA
Saya No Uta
Kikokugai
Hanachirasu
Sumaga
Zoku Satsuriku no Django

-They've given the content a look over and so far have seen nothing that needs censoring.
-The shorter games may come bundled together. I think this means Saya, Kikokugai, and Hanachirasu since VNDB has them all in the "Short 2-10 hours" category.

Peach Princess
Seinarukana -The Spirit of Eternity Sword 2-
Starless

They also mentioned a game for female fans.
 

kiryogi

Banned
Didn't know about Kara no Shoujo and it seems to be getting some good press. . . Might just impulse buy it on the 29th. . . Shame about no voices, but somehow I imagine there will be a fan patch that'll fix that.
 

Lain

Member
It is too bad that I never have money toward the end of the month, so I'll have to wait a couple of days for Kara no Shoujo.

In regards to the Nitro+ games, I'm gonna buy them, hoping for nice prices though!

Starless... is that the Empress game?!? Well, it is. I'll buy it! I just need a release date!
 
Haven't seen this one mentioned in this thread so far, and thought I should point it out since I enjoyed it quite a bit when I played it through with a translation patch last year.

IIuXZ.jpg

Aoishiro

All-ages (15+) PC port of a PS2 Shoujo-Ai (i.e. romance between girls) VN by Success. The main character, Syouko, is one of the better written female characters I've come across. She's a reasonably strong and confident character, but at the same time is still written with a feminine perspective. By contrast, many female leads end up being written effectively as if they were male, or are the weak and needy type that you often see as the heroines of standard VNs.

The plot revolves around the Kendo team, which Syouko is the captain of, who are attending training camp at an isolated Bhuddist temple by the sea in remote Japan. Just off the coast is an island which only the locals are permitted to visit, cut off from the mainland by a landbridge that only appears at low tide once a year. The island has a long history and folklore, especially the story of a bull demon which was exterminated there and is said to haunt the island still, bellowing whenever the wind blows and conjuring up storms. Every year, the people of the island have a festival celebrating the extermination of the demon, culminating with a sacrifice. And (of course) Syouko herself has a history with the place, though she doesn't know it yet.

The game is fully voiced, to the point that there's a different line of spoken dialogue when you start up the game depending on what time of day it is. The character sprites are partially animated as well, with eye blinks and lip flaps synchronised to said dialogue (except in the CG scenes), which gives it a more anime feel. I honestly don't know if this is remarkable or not. I've seen a few console / handheld games do it but this is the only PC VN I've encountered with that feature, however I haven't played that many. It has a highly branching plot with a lot of endings (56 total, most of them bad). The routes are gated, so you need to finish a few of them before certain choices are unlocked which will let you gain access to others. The controlled release means that playing through each route reveals more about the whole story of the island, its history and so on, so by the end everything has lined up. It's not a Higurashi/Umineko-style multi-part mystery or anything, but it's only the final route where the final pieces fall in place.

English patch is here. The original PC game is available in a few spots still I think, though it might be getting rarer given its age (late 2008). Pretty sure it's still available on DLSite.
 
AtomskEater said:
JAST has a pre-AX press release up.

ax2011_nitro_announce.jpg


Nitro+JAST USA
Saya No Uta
Kikokugai
Hanachirasu
Sumaga
Zoku Satsuriku no Django

-They've given the content a look over and so far have seen nothing that needs censoring.
-The shorter games may come bundled together. I think this means Saya, Kikokugai, and Hanachirasu since VNDB has them all in the "Short 2-10 hours" category.

Peach Princess
Seinarukana -The Spirit of Eternity Sword 2-
Starless

They also mentioned a game for female fans.

Just Saya no Uta alone is worth the price of admission. Damn I'll never forget that game. Every time I'm preparing meat for cooking, I think of that game. o_O;
Scarred for life...
 

Daichi

Neo Member
This thread seems to be missing "Miami Law" for DS who's translation was brought to us by Gaijinworks. It's not an exceptional story, but it makes for a half decent cop drama.
 

Dunan

Member
RurouniZel said:
Finished Ever17 over the weekend. Good stuff! :)


I was in the neighborhood used game shop today with Y1000 in coupons that were due to expire at the end of the month - i. e. today - and saw the PSP port of Ever 17. How is it? I was this close to buying it just on it's GAF reputation.
 

creid

Member
Dunan said:
I was in the neighborhood used game shop today with Y1000 in coupons that were due to expire at the end of the month - i. e. today - and saw the PSP port of Ever 17. How is it? I was this close to buying it just on it's GAF reputation.
I loved it. By the same author as 999, and IMO it's better than 999.
 

Danj

Member
Does anyone know if savegames from the trial version of Kara no Shoujo will work with the full version?
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Dunan said:
I was in the neighborhood used game shop today with Y1000 in coupons that were due to expire at the end of the month - i. e. today - and saw the PSP port of Ever 17. How is it? I was this close to buying it just on it's GAF reputation.

The story is very good and interesting, if occasionally hard to wrap your head around. I've no inhibitions about recommending following guides so you know which choices actually make a difference and which mean jack squat.
 

Pirabear

Banned
Is the iOS version of Kira Kira and Higurashi censored? Getting a smartphone in the fall and since I probably won't have much time for some sit down gaming, they seem like a good alternative.

Oh, and not going to lie, this makes me want to play My Girlfriend is the President. Is the actual game worth checking out? <_<
 
Luminate said:
Is the iOS version of Kira Kira and Higurashi censored? Getting a smartphone in the fall and since I probably won't have much time for some sit down gaming, they seem like a good alternative.

Oh, and not going to lie, this makes me want to play My Girlfriend is the President. Is the actual game worth checking out? <_<
Assuming you mean "are they H-free?" then yes, Kira Kira is the non eroge version. Higurashi isn't close to being an eroge so of course, it's not censored.
And if you meant "other than that, are the contents censored for language or blood?" then the answer is no, they did not touch the text or the effects.

MGitP is fun and for laughs mostly, if you like comedy then it may be worth checking it out.
 

tiff

Banned
Luminate said:
Oh, and not going to lie, this makes me want to play My Girlfriend is the President. Is the actual game worth checking out? <_<
I have it preordered so I'll let you know whenever JAST gets done localizing it.
 

Pirabear

Banned
Thanks guys. And yeah, I mainly meant language/violence. Wouldn't feel comfortable watching ero-scenes on the phone myself. :lol
 

Dunan

Member
Thanks for the Ever 17 advice -- I think I'll grab it!

Is Anata o Yurusanai well known as a visual novel? I played that and absolutely loved it. You play a young-ish female private detective whose husband has mysteriously disappeared; she owns a detective agency that took over a disused elementary school for its offices. Smooth jazz music, modern-world setting (in overused Tokyo, though). Holding the PSP vertically makes for a different feel. And that
heartbreaking
ending!

It's too bad it was never translated -- it deserves it!
 

Sinople

Member
Not limited to the English translated ones, what are the very best VN?
My personal favorites are Machi and Steins;Gate. Easily the very best VN (or "Sound Novel") I played. I'm very tempted by 428 too.

Dunan said:
Is Anata o Yurusanai well known as a visual novel? I played that and absolutely loved it. You play a young-ish female private detective whose husband has mysteriously disappeared; she owns a detective agency that took over a disused elementary school for its offices. Smooth jazz music, modern-world setting (in overused Tokyo, though). Holding the PSP vertically makes for a different feel.

Nobuo Uematsu's work if I recall correctly.
I tried it some years ago. It wasn't bad but I stopped for some reason and never resumed again. I should give it another try.

EDIT:
I'm not a big fan of Ever 17 though, I don't recall anything interesting happening.
 

Erigu

Member
Sinople said:
Not limited to the English translated ones, what are the very best VN?
My personal favorites are Machi and Steins;Gate. Easily the very best VN (or "Sound Novel") I played. I'm very tempted by 428 too.
428 is very nice indeed. Great episode by Abiko Takemaru, at the end, too.
Speaking of which, I imagine you've played the Kamaitachi no Yoru series already?
 

Lain

Member
I went and bought Kara no Shoujo. Still have to finish downloading it, but I'm kinda stoked to start playing it.
Also, looks like it was for the better that I couldn't buy it on release, as they had uploaded the wrong version of the game before.

How long before a patch to re-add the voices in will be released by the community?
 

Ra1den

Member
Erigu said:
428 is very nice indeed. Great episode by Abiko Takemaru, at the end, too.

Has anybody ever heard anything about a fan translation of 428? I've been dying to play it for awhile.
 
Played the Kara no Shoujo demo. I like it; it's a mix between a PC eroge and a traditional Japanese adventure game. You have erotic teases and mysterious mystic world segments, but you also have a murder mystery and light investigation and deduction elements. Hopefully the mystery is fair play, because I'm interested enough to take a stab at solving it. Will definitely buy this.

Sinople said:
EDIT:
I'm not a big fan of Ever 17 though, I don't recall anything interesting happening.

Really? You didn't think how things went down in the true ending was at all interesting? It blew my mind.

Ra1den said:
Has anybody ever heard anything about a fan translation of 428? I've been dying to play it for awhile.

Console VNs have a difficult time getting enough interest for a fan translation, so I wouldn't expect anything.
 

Ra1den

Member
hosannainexcelsis said:
Console VNs have a difficult time getting enough interest for a fan translation, so I wouldn't expect anything.

Damn. There doesn't seem to be any translation guides either.
 
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