| My VNDB list until there's actually enough reviews to matter: http://vndb.org/u1640/list I am going to be writing reviews for some of the visual novels that I have played thus far. My ultimate goal is to raise awareness to visual novels within the MAL community, not that I think anyone cares. Even if no one reads them, I will continue to write them until 1) I get bored or 2) I can't write anymore due to IRL issues or 3) Everyone else gets tired of these reviews and tells me to stop writing them. As my list expands, you will see that most of these games have a relatively high score. It's pretty simple once you think about it for a bit; while these are reviews, I stated that first and foremost I am writing these to raise awareness for Galge. Obviously, writing bad reviews about games I don't like won't get people to play them. I play all type of games, and will pretty much write reviews for all type of games as long as they aren't games that are centered around Hentai; Games can have plenty of ecchi scenes and still have a great storyline (Parfait), while storyline revolving around ecchi is almost always never outstanding (Bible Black). In short, those of you looking for reviews for Bible Black, either play more galge until you find out what a POS it is or go look elsewhere.
Complete: |
ShinkenshiSep 11, 2009 9:20 PM
| Symphonic Rain (All Age) is developed by Kogado Studio as a part of series of musical adventure games. The studio is most famous for the Tristia of the Deep Blue Sea series and well.... Symphonic Rain. Game homepage: http://www.kogado.com/html/kuroneko/sr/index.htm  Taken from Wikipedia: Symphonic Rain takes place in a fictional city of Italian heritage named Piova where rain falls everyday. The locals there have adapted to this peculiar phenomenon, and carry on with their lives as if the rain was never there. No one uses umbrellas, or rain coats. The main character of the story is seventeen-year-old Chris, a Fortelle student of the famous Piova Communal School of Music (Scuola Comunale di Musica Piova, in Italian). Separated from his childhood sweetheart Arietta when he left his home town for the city, he keeps in touch with her through weekly letters. Penning their thoughts on these letters, Chris treasures and keeps her weekly writings, for he had promised her that should his drawer become totally filled with them, he would return to her. The story begins during Chris's third year as a student, a few months before he has to take the school's final graduation examination: a stage performance. As an instrumentalist, he is required to search for a vocalist partner before he is eligible for the examination.  Our heroine standing in the ever-raining city of Piova The above is a nice introduction to the setting and the back story of Symphonic Rain. The only thing not mentioned is that Fortelle is a fictional keyboard-like instrument used in the game. Do NOT read further into Wikipedia, as it contains major spoilers that will ruin the second half of the game. Characters:  Protagonist - Chris Velding The 17 years old player character in the game who represents you. He came to Piova to attend the music school with his childhood friend Tortinita and is in third grade. He is a very good Fortelle player but not very popular due to his laid-back and anti-social nature. Chris really isn't a likable character. The only rule of thumb he has is to wait until the very last minute to do everything. Of course, I am the same way so I can't be overtly critical....  Childhood Crush - Tortinita Fine Tortinita is a childhood friend who is attending the same school as Chris. Toruta (her nickname) is a vocal student in the same year as Chris. She has liked Chris ever since childhood, but unfortunately for her, Chris is dating her older sister, Arietta. Fortunately for her, Arietta didn't come to the same school. Being such a stock type character (childhood crush and imouto?), I didn't expect her to be the lead female character. Initially she appears to be very energetic but later on we find out the reason behind her actions.  Distant Lover - Arietta Fine Arietta is the other leading female character; she is the older of the Fine twins. She stayed home, taking training in bakery instead of going to a music school because she is a horrible singer. She starts out as being Chris' distant girlfriend and has a mail correspondence with Chris every week. Arietta is one of those people who just hold everything to themselves. Even though she writes Chris, a lot of times she will hold in her real feelings and opinions and support Chris' decisions.  Role Model -Falsita Fawcett Falsita is the former student president who is first introduced when Chris began the search for his graduation partner. She is nice to everyone and very popular, pretty much a role model student. She is very busy because she is always asked by teachers to do favors and also due to her part time work. As with any seeming perfect objects, there are flaws once you look close enough. Her story shows a different side of her that the teachers and students don't know, but the storyline is somewhat confusing and generally lacks focus, so I can't help but feel there's some lost opportunity here.  Mysterious Girl - Liselsia Cesarini Lisel is first introduced when Chris was walking around the old school building searching for a graduation partner. Attracted by her beautiful singing, Chris tries to approach her. Unfortunately, she ran away like a scared rabbit. Over the course of her storyline, we get to learn about Lisel's past and the reason why she became so anti-social and afraid of everyone. It's fairly written for the most part, though a little unbelievable at times.  Musical Fairie - Phorni A self-proclaimed musical fairy wiho rooms with Chris. Even though she has wings, she can't fly due to her small size (14cm tall, or about 4-5 inches). For some reason only Chris can see or hear her, and she has been freeloading off of Chris ever since he moved in. She loves singing and duo with Chris every weekend. As you play the game, you will know that she just irradiates happiness, and as expected her route is mostly a happy ride. The pacing in the beginning is a little off (well ok way off), but given the story and the theme it's pretty obvious that the game is not meant to be powered through in 1 sitting but more like 30 minutes to an hour at a time. To those who are used to intricate plotlines and inter-personal relations, the first three routes are going to feel stale compared to games like Tsukihime and Air. The second half, only available after getting the good endings for the first half, focuses on the Fine twins, the main heroines of the game. This half shows much more character development and thoroughly explains the game settings in an brilliant way. Overall, the story is decent, nothing outstanding but above average. There are some loose ends but the major questions regarding the characters are mostly answered. Fortunately, unlike conventional visual novels, storyline is not the key strength of this game. The area where Symphonic rain lives up to its classy name is the music and sound. Mai Nakahara did an excellent job voicing two different characters. Yes, you can still tell it's the same seiyuu, but there is a definite distinction between the two. The BGM, composed by the late Ritsuko Okazaki, really adds to the atmosphere and never gets old. The most unique feature of Symphonic Rain is its Concert Mode, in which the player (as Chris) gets to play different songs in a duet, depending on which route is being played (more on Concert Mode later). Equally as impressive is the artwork. At first, I was turned off by the simplistic character designs and models that reminded me of the abomination named South Park (ok, that was an exaggeration, but not by far). Over time, the characters grew on me; the simple, cute sprites contrast really well against the canvas-like background. Add in the constant raining in the background, at times you will really feel like you are having a cup of latte in an Italian city named Piova.  Where else can you find such a cute musical fairy? The game system is a mixed bag. The Concert Mode is always fun to play, even if a bit simple. It's basically playing music with a qwerty keyboard; think of a hybrid between Stepmania and typing games. The qwerty keys represents 3 different octaves, and occasionally you have a cord of 2 or 3 notes. Over the courses of the game, you'll run into times when you need to practice or perform with your female partner. Depending on how you do in the minigame, the girl might get closer or further away from you, to the point of failing a performance resulting in a bad end with one of the characters. It sounds really basic and boring, but the girls singing along (lip-synced, even!) with the songs you are playing is the cutest thing ever. There's even a Free Play mode in the title just so you don't have to go through the storyline to play the minigame. There's also an autoplay mode if you just want to listen to the music and watch the characters sing.  Not much beats a moe bishoujo singing along with you.... Compared to the Concert Mode, the rest of the game's system just falls flat on its face. Symphonic Rain is really bare bone for a game that came out in 2004. Other than the fast forward and backlog there's no real features, like quick saving or voice replays. Replaying the games for other routes can quickly become an exercise of frustration, as you easily ctrl-skip 3 pages past where you stopped the last playthrough, with no option to revoice those dialogues but to load the last savegame. Under the seemingly unassuming artwork and slower-paced plot line, there is a real gem hidden inside Symphonic Rain. It's a really overused phrase but it applies here: The journey is more important than the destination. While playing through the game, I am constantly reminded of ARIA, the other Italian themed, slice-of-life adventure: At times, the plot may not seem to be going anywhere, but it's so easy to lose yourself in Piova/Manhome that you won't really care. 8/10 |
ShinkenshiApr 2, 2009 5:51 PM
| Parfait~ Chocolat Second Brew is an eroge (18+) developed by GIGA as a sequel to a previous maid-themed game, Chocolat~ Cafe Maid "Curio." Even the game still runs along a similar theme, the cast and setting is totally different. Game homepage: http://www.web-giga.com/parfait/parfait.htm  No Wikipedia entry this time, so I'll have to type something up my self. Hitoshi Takamura (hereby referred to as Jin, for reason see Ema's entry below) is a college student who's not doing too well. One day, he receives a call from a new mall opening nearby offering him an open spot to open a cafe. The reason for the call is because his family used to own a popular cafe named Famille which closed down a year ago. Wanting to restore the cafe to its former glory, Jin accepts the offer and decides to drop out of college in order to concentrate on finding people and managing the cafe. As he gets ready to open the cafe, a heartwarming love-comedy ensues. Translated from Getchu: After the grand opening of the Middle Ages Europe themmed shopping mall "BrickMall" a few months ago, people got used to the mall but the Cafe Curio is still doing well in its business. But a tragic fire destroys everything one day and cafe had to be closed. The only chance to get things back is to request everyone to chip in together and rebuild everything from scratch. One by one, everyone returns, puts in so much effort and Cafe Curio is back in business again. But at the same day that Curio opens its doors an another Cafe makes an opening just across the street as well. A Cafe called Parfait with the exact same European theme with Curio. It's aim is to "Topple the curio!", a furious battle begins... The two descriptions sounds totally unrelated, for a good reason. As you might have guessed, Cafe Curio is actually from the first game, and the Getchu description is more of a backdrop for the story (which isn't accurate anyways, as technically the Curio in this game is the third store, but that's another story for another day...). Outside:  Game Menu, with a very bad rendering of BrickMall ... then: Inside.  As the old saying goes, appearance can be deceptive. Characters:  The Carefree New Waitress - Yui Kazami The first person and only person to respond to Jin's recruitment handouts. Yui picked up the handout on the side of the street after someone threw it away. She decided to work at the cafe because the uniform looks cute. As the only new member who didn't work at the old Famille, she has to prove herself as an exceptional waitress. She often gets the orders mixed up and break dishes due to her carelessness. However, she has a tendency to "sing" out the orders she take (which is actually voiced out in the game), much to the customers' surprise and delight.  Tsundere Goddess - Rea Katori Rea is the head waitress of rival cafe, Curio, directly across from Famille. She has been fighting with Jin ever since they first met, bringing the already intense rivalry to a new height. Coincidentally, she also just moved next door to Jin's condo. Defining Rea as merely a Tsundere is a massive understatement. Shana can take a lesson or three here regarding "how to not annoy or piss people off as a tsundere." Her route is closely related to Yui's, and the reason will be readily apparently about halfway through either of their routes.  Aspiring confectioner - Kasuri Suzunami Kasuri is a former employee in Famille. She used to be a waitress but is now helping out in Parfait's understaffed kitchen, busy baking breads and making pastries. She has a dad who acts like a Yakuza member, and her sister is a renowned confectioner who specializes in traditional Japanese sweets. In order to help out in Parfait (a.k.a. in order to find a good excuse to run away from home), she lied to her family, saying that she is engaged to Jin. They escaped Kasuri's house amidst the chaos, with Kasuri's father waving his katana swearing to cut down whoever tries to steal away his daughter.  Energetic Prankster - Asuka Yukino Asuka was a part time waitress for Famille. She is also being tutored by Jin, despite the fact that more often than not she seems to be brighter than him. It should come as no great surprise that she has had a crush on him for a long time, and she is actually the first person to support the idea of Jin reopening his family cafe. Throughout the game, she tries to get Jin to reciprocate her love, despite the "student-teacher" relationship.  Doting Onee-San - Ema Sugisawa Ema is Jin's older sister. She is extremely caring and protective of Jin, to the point of being called an obsession. She was the owner and manager of Famille but refuses to help Jin open Parfait due to bad memories about Famille closing down. As expected from, she wasn't too hard of a sale and quickly got talked into becoming the main pastry maker for the new cafe. It's worth noting that while the protagonist's name is actually Hitoshi, she refers to him as Jin. It leaves quite a strong impression, since that's the only reference of the protagonist's name for the majority of the game, not to mention that Ema does so in a very dramatic way in most situations. Ema's route goes back and explain the events that took place 5 years ago, back when Famille was open and is considered by most as one of the two "true" routes in the game.  Cooldere+Megane=? - Rikako Natsumi Rikako was the *real* manager of Famille. With an owner like Ema, you can expect plenty of creativity, but when it comes to balancing the budget she quickly falls apart. Cool and intelligent, Rikako was the main reason that Famille was held together and turned out a profit. She is good at many things and tries to hide any imperfections such as near-sightedness. She is the only other person to refer to the protagonist by name by simply using his real name, Hitoshi. As in Ema's route, her route goes back to explore the events that occurred 5 years ago and the exact nature of her relationship with Jin. Most consider her route to be the true route of the game, with a complete background and resolution. Right from the get-go you can already tell that the game is going to be a high-energy roller coaster. After the slightly misleading intro "Leaf Ticket" sung by Kotoko, you are greeted with a very joyous and and bouncy sounding menu music. This is one of the funniest visual novels I have played and is highly character-driven. Each character has a dynamic personality and often end up in hilarious situations simply by doing stuff out of habit. Towards the end of the game, the game takes a turn for the more serious and plunges to the dramatic side of the stories (especially Rikako and Ema's route), but while the plot is solid, I think the game's strength lies in its comedy and feels very lighthearted overall. The way the game progresses may seem awkward at first but is actually very intuitive. After x amount of progression, you will come to a branching point where you have to choose an event involving one or more of the female characters. Once in a while, you come across a "important event" for one or more characters, and it's necessary to choose that path if it contains the character you are trying to end up with. Finally, if you get all the important events for a particular character, you will be able to unlock the true ending for the character, which usually contains an epilogue or simply a longer continuation of the storyline. All told, the game should take no longer than 50 hours. Perhaps the biggest strength regarding the game stems from its lack of weakness. Sure, if you don't like the maid setting or just dislike harem in general, this game is still not for you. However, in terms of characterization, visual, and audio quality it's all very consistent across the board. There may not be a large amount of CGs, but each of them are very detailed, paying extra attention to maid outfits and the lighting. In fact, I think the menu screen is probably the least detailed CG of the entire game.  Going shopping with Rikako. Notice the lighting I was talking about? As mentioned above, the sound production is top notch. The voice actors are outstanding.Special recognition must be given for Ema's voice actress, for making her so convincingly over-the-top dramatic, one of the reason she ended up being the most memorable character for me despite Yui being my favorite. The background music are all very well placed and appropriate. A few of the piano tracks are even on my play list,which is, admittedly, 7,000 songs. The only minor gripe I have is that some of the BGMs are extremely short (like under a minute short), so they may become repetitive after a while.  Notice the details put into the maid clothing The single greatest strength for Parfait (and the same is true for the other two games in the trilogy) lies in its brilliant game system. In a pure stroke of genius, the game designer made the entire game playable with only the mouse or the keyboard. Move your mouse to the right hand edge and the save/load menu pops up. Left click saves the game, and right click loads the game. This totally eliminates the need for an auto save system. Move the mouse to the bottom and various system control bar pop up, which notably includes skipping to next branching point, going back to the previous one, auto play, auto play speed, all in the convenience of a single click. Control via keyboard is equally as intuitive with the directional keys, and it also supports hotkeying for certain commands. You can also get female characters to voice your system settings just to add to the moe aspect. It is the single most user friendly interface I have run into in a visual novel. The system is even kiddy-friendly: Right before the H-scenes, you are given the choice of R15/R18, so you can skip over them if so inclined. In case if you still can't tell by the almost blindingly positive bombardments of remarks I have been throwing around, this game is easily one of my favorite visual novels. I already played this game twice before and gladly played it again in order to write this review. I would really encourage someone to look into translating this game into English, as it is one of the best games I have the pleasure of playing. 9.5/10 The half point off is for both its strength and its weakness - the game is too reliant on its prevalent maid-comedy theme. No amount of great story or moving music will matter if you can't stand maids, because you will be staring at them all day long. |
ShinkenshiSep 8, 2009 4:29 PM
| XD nice reviews... but ma gad the characters in the first one look like they are <15 0.o and they are 17 0.o wow also looked at the second one XD looks cool thanks |
 |
| Finally finished Parfait review. It was 2 months in the making but whatever, at least I finished it. I was planning to do Yoake Mae yori Ruriiro na next, but August recently released a new version, so I'm holding off to see whether they get that translated to Chinese anytime soon. In short, on break. |
| God i have to pay Parfait NOOOOOOOOOOOOOW *Goes torrent hunting EDIT: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK i just noticed this: I would really encourage someone to look into translating this game into English, as it is one of the best games I have the pleasure of playing. God Fucking DAAAAAAAAAAMN IT -.- |
CloudyJun 16, 2009 1:43 AM
 |
| Thanks; it's nice to know that the reviews actually helped someone, even if it's just one person. I'd write more, but a combination of real life, laziness, and about 50 backlogged visual novels is getting in the way lol |
| ohay apparently I made an identical thread here, might as well copy and paste: Not a review or anything, but I wrote a list of the top 10 eroge I've played so far. There was some event on some Chinese forums, so I decided to write my post in English before translating it since my Chinese sucks nowadays, whatever.... Since my Japanese is pretty limited, most of the titles I played were translated into either English or Chinese. Only titles I played in Japanese mentioned below are Tomoyo After and parts of Clannad, both of which I later played with the Chinese and English patch anyways. Anyways, on to the list.... 1. Clannad Only visual novel to ever make me waste hundreds of hours of my life. Clannad is basically the perfection of Jun Maeda style nakige that underwent four years in the making. Even if you know what's coming next, you cannot help but be captivated by the characters coming to life under his pen. Furthermore, the value of family is integrated so well and in such diverse ways I believe most readers can't help but become invariably emotionally invested in the game. Precisely because of all the responses this game elicits from me, I don't know where to begin. Besides, nothing I can come up with will be better than Jun Maeda's writing anyways so instead of reading this you should go play the game already.  1. Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo | 車輪の国、向日葵の少女 This title covers such a broad area of topics that any attempt to summarize it would be overwhelming, both to the person writing the summary and the person reading it. Yet, when you play the game, it does not feel that way at all. This is what makes the Sharin no Kuni so phenomenal. It raises profound questions and challenges many conventions in the society without feeling the least bit out of place. Consequently, even if you pick it up years down the road and replay it, the story will not feel any less satisfying and makes you appreciate the depth in this game. Last but not least, Wakamoto Banzai! Houzuki Saikou! I used to be a non-believer regarding CV, but I would put this game into top 3 just for Wakamoto's performance as Houzuki.  3. Parfait ~Chocolat Second Brew~ | パ ル フ ェ ～ chocolat second brew One of the best slice of life galge. Impeccable atmosphere, great system, adorable characters, moving story line (albeit highly unrealistic, idealistic, and romanticized for the most part), What more is there to say? Oh yea, I wrote an English review about it once when I was bored (one of the only two I've ever written for galge). 3. Tomoyo After ~It's a Wonderful Life~ | 智代アフター〜It's a Wonderful Life〜 This title is here mostly due to me being a Tomoyo fan. However, ironically, it is what made me such a big Tomoyo fan in the first place, and the title is great in its own right. Its has made countless Key fans (well, more like me) start cursing Jun Maeda. Undeniably, though, Tomoyo After wouldn't as memorable had it ended any other way. I've often heard that Maeda has modeled Tomoyo after his ideal vision for a woman. I don't know if it's true or not, but he has certainly created mine.  5. Haruka ni Aogi, Uruwashi no | 遥かに仰ぎ、麗しの Honestly, there's a significant gap between the impact I felt from this game compared to the ones above. The writing and art is (mostly) good for this game, and there are some nice plot twists, but all in all, it's not comparable to the above four. What it lacks in quality though (though honestly the story lines are still mostly decent), it makes up with quantity. Tsundere, imouto, meganne, name it all, the game has a route for all of them. Since I am generally not picky when it comes to entertainment, this title provided me with plenty to spare.  5. Moshimo Ashita ga Harenaraba | もしも明日が晴れならば One of the titles that caught me by surprise. I mean, it's hard to take a game seriously when the main heroine dies within the first 10 minutes of the game. All the comedic elements is almost enough to make you forget that she is already dead and the story will inevitably end as a tragedy. The effortless transition between the pacing and the tone of the game, coupled with some nice plot twists, makes it one of the best non Key nakige I've played.  5. Higurashi/Umineko no Naku Koro ni | ひぐらし/うみねこのなく頃に I was originally going to put only Umineko, but seeing that it's not finished and that Higurashi is a great game in its own right, I included them both here. Detective mystery is basically a love or hate genre. I happen to love them. Ryukishi did a good job conveying the mysterious atmosphere and intensity in Higurashi and follow up with unexpected plot twists. The supernatural element further elevates the suspense in Umineko and makes for some intense fighting scenes, whether verbally or magically. I have to say though, goddam 07th you need to step it up in your CG department.... I'll never trick you guys into seeing an 07th Expansion CG!!! Never!!!!!11 5. Tsukihime | 月姫 A game featuring uniquely crafted world and badass powers. Unlike Fate, it doesn't go overboard with millions of artifacts and powers and more importantly, doesn't blatantly steal and butcher folklore and legends borrowed from about 20 different civilizations. Oops this is suppose to be an entry for Tsukihime.... Anyways, the superb descriptions, awesome but believable battles, and roller coaster plot line proves that Nasu can still create fascinating worlds without resorting to conventional backgrounds such as Tolkien or folklore.  9. Sekien no Inganock -What a Beautiful People- | 赫炎のインガノック -what a beautiful people- To be honest, I'm not sure why I included this title. Maybe it's due to the unique settings. Or perhaps it's the slice of life feel. Maybe even that feeling of intangible often associated with episodic story telling, or the fact that it reminds me of Mushishi. There is undoubtedly a lot of flaws with the title, and it does not do any of the things I mentioned above better than the other titles on the list, but the very nature of the game makes it very easy to pick up and put down and to forgive its flaws. Besides, it's one of the most interesting settings I have come across in any story, and its take on the pessimistic human nature holds a certain shade of truth.  9. Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku o | この青空に約束を― Umi banzai! This game is basically Parfait in a different setting with some more characters added. The end result isn't as good for several reasons. It has an excellent back drop that it never uses. It's supposed to be a tropical island, yet most of the stories feel like as if could have taken place at some random school in the country. Further more, having more characters diluted the focus of the story, making it so that each story line is not as memorable as Parfait in general. However, as I mentioned before, I'm not very picky about what entertains me, so having more route still have its merits.  Honorary Mentions: Cartagra ~Tsukigurui no Yamai~ | カルタグラ～ツキ狂イノ病～ - Great story, phenomenal artwork, but too much gore for my taste.  Katahane | カタハネ - Shoujo Ai Banzai! Yuri Saikou!  Symphonic Rain | シンフォニック=レイン - One of the ultimate "atmosphere" games. Perfect blend of CG and BGM to portray a classy, Italian suburbia setting. Some of the plot twists in the game worked out pretty decently as well. Speaking of which, I also wrote a review for this game. Scarlett - I can personally relate to the game's theme and the characters. I even wrote a post about it but it's in Chinese.  Kazoku Keikaku | 家族計画- Wakamato power! Though it's significantly diminished in this game. Comedy isn't one of his strong suit.... As an illustrious precursor to Clannad, it offers different perspectives on the subject of family as well as exploring differing aspects of family.  |
More topics from this board
» Top 5 VNs ( 1 2 3 )AltriaPendragon - Jun 2, 2013 |
120 |
by Fischer77
»»
Jan 28, 2023 5:49 PM |
|
» Top 10 Heroines from all the VN's you have read?Riptos - Jun 23, 2021 |
1 |
by UIGodFather
»»
Jul 3, 2021 7:19 AM |
|
» What VN are you currently playing? ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )MayuAsagiri - Dec 17, 2013 |
434 |
by removed-user
»»
Apr 25, 2021 6:26 AM |
|
» Member Birthday List ( 1 2 3 )removed-user - Mar 8, 2011 |
126 |
by Disapeared_Ghost
»»
Apr 23, 2021 4:51 PM |
|
» Visual Novel Data Base Account ( 1 2 3 )removed-user - Jan 29, 2011 |
106 |
by removed-user
»»
Apr 14, 2021 4:50 PM |