#i had an idea for a vn a while ago and have been doing very small bits of work on it here and there but basically

[morphogenetic]

Mediaposting 2024, #6: Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2/The Great Ace Attorney Resolve

Completed: April 21st, 2024 (/i still have to watch the DLC episodes that didn't get released with the official loc, I guess but I'm not playing it any more so ?? lol)

Time spent: 49.5 hours (will be like 50.5 after the DLC stuff)

Rating: 9/10 (more objectively. but a very biased 9.5 in my heart.)

ohhhhh my god alright where do i even start with this. i guess i also have to talk about dgs1 a little bit in this review/mini completion log but I will TRY and keep it to just 2. [editor's note: somehow succeeded with this! lfg]

first, to get the non-spoiler parts of this out of the way:

please for the love of god play this fucking game if you've played the original AA trilogy but not the DGS duology. i can not stress this enough. i would not recommend playing them as your FIRST aa games because a) they will set your bar way too high (and too low simultaneously bc wow dgs1 still has whack as hell pacing) b) there are a few details, especially in this particular game, that will evoke no reaction in you if you haven't played at least the main three games but WILL cause you to start gnawing on drywood if you have Knowledge Of The Future

the whole dgs duology - and specifically as a duology, bc 2 makes no sense without 1 but 1 by itself is not on this level - is absolutely in my top 3/4 AA games now. i admittedly have not replayed the original trilogy in quite a while, buuuuuut T&T/AAI2/DGS1+2 are my new top 3. not necessarily in that order, give me a bit to think about it lol.

im going to be thinking about this game for the rest of my life probably. i can see why my best friend wanted me to play it for uh. seven years. because yeah it really is that good.

i want to cosplay four different designs from it. i have not wanted to cosplay anything new (to me) since neo twewy came out three years ago. take that as you will.

music still slaps. obviously. my favorite new song is absolutely partners (IYKYK) but agh. the new theme(s) that characters get are all so fucking good. clenches fist. the leitmotifs

definitely becomes relevant in retrospect in a few places where capcom obviously cut the hell out of the budget but they saved it for where it matters so i dont care. im also uh. very used to low budget VNs so frankly even 3D models are better than I'm used to LMFAO. i also you know. didn't realize that they did that until after the fact. so. they hid it well

if you havent played this go and play it (after playing the original AA trilogy). please for the love of god im on my hands and knees.

everything below the cut (i.e. below this point) has blatant unfiltered spoilers. you have been warned.

okay so welcome you've presumably played all of dgs2 if you're reading this. i have THOUGHTS. a lot of these will come off as critical/negative but i need to strongly emphasize that these are the only reasons that this game is not a 10/10 for me and otherwise i'm in love with it. it is fucking CLOSE. i am not talking a lot about the things i really love because that is.............................a lot of the game for me and we'd be here all day. the critiques are much more limited in number. but. you know.

dgs2 absolutely has much, Much better pacing than dgs1 does overall. it does not take 3 cases to get past a bunch of tutorial cases. this is a good thing. however..............the first two cases are still very slow. i won't call them pure filler, because a) reminding us about yuujin was a very good idea, b) they contribute to the Themes of the game. and im glad hosonaga was there again and (of all of the side characters we could have had) seeing souseki was good. i like them. but they really didn't need to be there to fulfill the themes of the game. case 2 in particular feels like a filler case, which I do not love given how tight the rest of the plot feels. if anything i feel like they should have done an interim flashback case without susato, as much as I adore susato, because as-is it's canon that ryuu had 3 cases in the span of a week. which feels INSANE

speaking of better pacing: im so glad dgs2 remembered that AA games can take investigation breaks between courtroom shit because running through ALL of the trial after ALL of the investigation in 1-5 was. let's say. taxing. the 'finding their footing' aspect of the first game

i do kind of wish we got One more case with the masked apprentice where susato wasn't there at all for the entire case. if only because then the delay between ryuu Thinking It and susato Knowing it would be even more painful. but i do really appreciate that they don't try to make it a woah big reveal as much as a painful "i know who you are but you don't." really adds a certain je nai se quois or however the fuck you spell that. idr. its 1 am when im typing this

also hey asougi can we fucking unpack how susato (the girl you were raised with to some extent, probably not like your sister but your weird younger cousin) called your name and you didn't remember who you were but you DID remember when you saw a wax reconstruction of your dead dad. can we fucking talk about that for a minute. can w

speaking of asougi. my god. they did such a good job with him. i think i wouldn't have cared nearly as much about him if all we had was the dgs1 stuff but his extreme motivation for the truth almost turning him into a violent attack dog is. aaaaaaaaaah. god. and the parallels between him and his father's followers (read: the von karmas) that one has from playing the mainline AA games. truly brainworm material

speaking of this: i can absolutely tell they did NOT think about writing the professor stuff with this game until they added in the masked apprentice - before he got turned into asougi - even though the reaper was obviously something that was planned. i do not care personally about this, because game dev is weird as hell and it REALLY works with asougi and van zieks' character arcs. in the same way that i don't think [SPOILER CHARACTER] from vlr would have been as good without the knowledge of 999, i think if barok had been foiled against a new character it wouldn't have worked as well. all that said. it sure is obvious they didn't know what they were doing. this makes me even more impressed that that they got it to work at all

the same is true of everything with the hound of the baskervilles but im really glad that they took it in the direction that they did.

also man it is so obvious that they probably wanted to have this be a proper trilogy like the original trilogy but then budget happened. because 2-3 through 2-5 all slap but they feel so fucking weird next to 2-1 and 2-2. like i dont feel that theres anything missing per se but a little more time for character growth would have been nice. hell even adding in an extra case (and/or editing 2-2....)

the only writing thing, aside from. 2-2 being like that. and the other weird pacing issues..that extensively is off to me is the whole assassin trading plot. i do think it is Very stupid and that they clearly wrote themselves into a corner with 1-5 on how to deal with it because they just...proceed to not deal with it until 2-4 and 2-5. however. even with that said. i actually kind of like that it is so stupid. because stronghart definitely feels SO obsessed with his version of justice that he wouldn't think through the potential downsides of having two free-roaming assassins running around and maybe coming to get his ass. obvious flaw that would not occur to him because of his insane ass behavior

its still dumb. but it's ace attorney dumb. so i can excuse it a little bit

stronghart being a damon gant expy was funny but goddamnit was it predictable. making him be so obssessed with justice that he talks to ryuu about it for 4 hours was funny as hell though and absolutely adds to him as a character. still dont like him that much Personally but hes definitely a character

his breakdown was peak. by the way. top 3 breakdowns in the series

jigoku being like that kills me. also. the way he just let genshin

g. genshin impact (sorry)

i dont care that sherlock's bullshit was a deus ex machina bc honestly.....electricity was real at that point. its fine

also. holy shit i love ryuunosuke in this game even more. 'i'm not doing this for you, kazuma. i'm doing it for the truth.' BANGER!!!!!!!!!!!! his growth across these two games is really good but especially in this one he shines so brightly

however..........this game made the glaring lack of ryuu's parents even more obvious. its not like i Need it or anything but considering how he very literally refers to yuujin/susato/sherlock/iris as his family in 2-4.....where are your parents!!!! what was your childhood like!!!!!! I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS THAT I WISH COULD BE ANSWERED!!!!!!!!!

and asougi. i could write an essay on asougi alone i think. but i adore how both he and ryuu are like 'you've changed' at each other and neither of them are wrong but then by the end they're like 'wow you're the same as before.' theyre so fucking gay. anyway

and sherlock (WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU WHY DO YOU LIE FOR FUN LIKE THIS????????)

and yuujin (partners ~ game is afoot starts playing and i start crying). obsessed with how they only had to write the dynamic for a single case and you can believe all of it because they can just go. lol. ACD canon. anyway

and susato

and, most surprisingly of all for me.....fucking barok van zieks. i would not call myself a Fan of him in the way i am a Fan of asougi and ryuu, but i am obsessed with him. he did so many things wrong but realizes he genuinely fucked up and wants to atone for it. he gets genuinely upset in prison when he can't join the red-headed league. he's a professional alcoholic. he has bats in his office (???). what is wrong with him. (i know the answer is 'literally everything that could be wrong with a person.' but still

i love every single character in this game (or i hate them but because they were written to be hated)??? how did they manage this again. dgs1 helps so much here because the character growth.

argh. the character parallels with everyone realizing their parent / mentor figure was fucked up and/or hiding shit from them in some way. thinking emoji rotating in a circle goes here

wow that magically became way less critical as i was writing it. i thought it was going to be a lot stronger of a critique. its still weird pacing stuff basically that bothers me but i have very minor complaints that im forgetting aside from this

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAH HI GUYS IM BRAIN ROTTING NOW FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this has had almost the same brain impact on me (as evidenced by the 1 million words about it) as raging loop i think and thats never a good sign since i still think about raging loop at least once a week despite the fact that i played it 3 goddamn years ago

[ryuichirou]

Do you guys have any sfw headcanons about jadidi? I really liked the one you did with Floyd! 🩵💙

Not only I took 1000 years to actually reply to you, Anon, I was also mistakenly certain that we already had at least one post about jadidi hcs. I guess I’ve been writing this reply in my head for so long that I fully gaslighted myself that it exists…

Alright, my brave little story aside, I am very happy that you enjoyed our Floyd/Idia hcs, Anon! And even though it was ages ago, I hope you’re still here to read the Jade/Idia ones that I came here to offer you…

(Damn it’s been a while since we posted anything Jadidi-related! Poor Jade :( )

I feel like I’ve said this one in some other post, but still: Idia genuinely likes Jade. He is still terrified of him, yes, and he doesn’t trust him at all, because he knows better than to trust anyone from Octavinelle, but that Harveston experience has taught him a lot. When in social situations and when Ortho isn’t around, Idia’s go-to is to either die all by himself or to cling to the most shady and misanthropic person. Usually it’s Azul, but Jade fits the mold surprisingly well. Idia didn’t expect to be comfortable (well sort of) around him, but here we are.

Jade enjoys being around Idia as well, and even though they don’t talk to each other very often, they have their little chats every now and then, and it’s usually quite a lovely experience… until Jade decides that it’s way too lovely and does or says something to freak Idia out. He really enjoys teasing him (and scaring him), so it’s like one minute they are friends, and then he acts like he is hungrily circling around a squid that he is about to bite.

Jade has Idia’s phone number. He asked for it at the end of the Harveston event, and even though Idia was very hesitant, at that moment he thought that this wasn’t that bad of an idea; so now Jade is one of the few people who knows Idia’s phone number.

He didn’t even need to ask btw, he could’ve asked Azul about it or even figured it out by himself (wink), but he really wanted to act like a cute kohai that really wants to keep in touch with his senpai that he had bonded with so much.

They do text each other sometimes: for the most part Jade just sends Idia some pictures of plants and mushrooms (usually the ones that they talked about in Harveston – something that Idia asked him about because there was that one plant from his favourite anime). He also sends him any bad pictures of Azul that he has, and Idia always giggles at these.

Idia giggles (very cutely!) because of Jade surprisingly a lot. Jade’s snarky little comments always hit the right spot for Idia, especially when Jade is mocking someone (usually it’s Azul…)

They also talk about anime sometimes. Jade did watch that one kelkkarotu inspired anime that Idia really likes and rather enjoyed it. And Idia almost cried because of excitement – he knew Jade-shi would get it! After that he gave Jade way too many anime recommendations… Jade has very little free time, but he still watches things from that list from time to time. Idia always waits for his reviews desperately…

One time Jade asked Idia to come and hang out with him at the lounge after working hours, and Idia initially freaked out and didn’t want to go. The fact that he called him at like 9 P.M. should have made everything better, since there are no people there, but it somehow made it worse. It’s way too shady! Does Jade-shi want to kill him? Or even worse – is he doing to do something r- romant- eeek??

The idea that there is some romantic chemistry between them occurs to Idia from time to time. He tries not to think about it though, or to rationalize it by saying to himself that he is just being paranoid, that Jade doesn’t seem into any type of relationship in general, or that Jade wouldn’t be into him at all. Or that he probably plays too many vns, and just talking to a guy from time to time doesn’t mean that they are getting anywhere.

But they are. They really are. Jade is perfectly aware that Idia is tormented by this dilemma and that he likes Jade’s attention, and he really likes it when Idia looks at him with his surprised, confused, but also sweetly desperate eyes. He could have easily made the first move, but confusing Idia and making him obsessed with this idea is much more fun. So he’ll play with him some more~

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 3 Tatarigoroshi pt. 10

Before we get into the real meat of it, I would like to talk briefly about a technical aspect of the GOG release of Higurashi (probably Steam as well). If you are playing the game (reading the visual novel) on two computers and using cloud saves, but don't have the same mods installed across both computers, this can actually bork your saves up.

In Tatarigoroshi part 9 I mentioned briefly how at the start of chapter ten it just has Keiichi mention point blank that he murdered the hell out of Teppei Houjou. I initially thought this was a remarkably quick change of pace from how the rest of the VN had presented facts. It turns out, playing the VN on my desktop computer (my Strong Lad) and not on my laptop as I usually do caused the save to somehow skip over chapter ten entirely. I read roughly an hour or so of chapter nine on my laptop earlier and it deals almost exclusively with how Keiichi executing his plot to kill Teppei Houjou. So I got curious just how much they'd written to extend this part for the console release (the console port got new art, so maybe they wrote a small extra part just for console). When it got to one of the mid-chapter stopping points I decided to see how much was left in the chapter and skipped towards the end. After verifying the chapter was over, I went about my day and eventually decided to check it on my desktop. "I'll read it for a while to see where they decide to converge the paths," I thought and so I read for a while, until I started thinking that something seemed off. This chapter ten seemed awfully different to what I'd just read. So I decided again, to use the skip dialogue until it got to the end of the chapter, where it gave me different TIPS than the ones the one on my laptop gave me. That being said, let's continue.

As you can see, he's becoming slightly more unhinged, considering he now thinks he'll be able to just move on from killing a man.

Bearer, seek seek lest.

I think it's an interesting idea, this notion that he's decided to become a gun for Oyashiro.

In the console remake art is flips very quickly through a handful of the environmental scenes while showing the words that the remake version has there. It's a neat effect, and I curse Nvidia for my recording software not working at this point.

I know that it's just a product of his deeply unwell mind, but I don't really understand why he's decided to project this almost heavenly aura on to the bat Satoshi left behind. Keiichi is treating it like it's a divine holy instrument, and the embodiment of Satoshi's will, when up until twelve hours in-game ago he thought Satoshi was a bum who just cut and run when the going got tough. He's acting like he's inherited the divine sword of justice in an RPG, and not the bat of Kevin the bed wetter who was mid at baseball. Like I said, I know this is a symptom of an unwell mind, but it's just wild to see him completely flip and change opinions on a guy that when you get down to it he knows nothing about.

I think you're gonna have a bad time. Oh yeah, also Keiichi dug the hole he's going to plant a seed of Houjou to see what flowers out of it later.

And so the trap has been sufficiently baited, and Teppei walks unknowingly into his doom.

Bad news Tep, you lost your living perms.

And so begins the murder of one Teppei Houjou by the Coward Keiichi Maebara.

I'm not saying I wanted to see it, but given how the visual novel up to the point has shied away from depictions of murder I'm surprised at how graphic this scene is. You basically get to read all about how Keiichi just splatters this man apart. Whereas in Onikakushi it was just "Mion and Rena got beaten to death with a bat," and left it at that.

"I felt muscular and compact, like corned beef."

And so it ends. Keiichi Maebara beat the life out of Teppei all for the sake of a relationship that a little over a week ago seemed more perfunctory than anything. Also I do find it interesting how he's taken this view that you're allowed a single murder on the night of Watanagashi. It's like a little Purge, a little murder, as a treat.

Sure. Keep telling yourself that buddy.

It's all fun and games until you have to clean up afterwards.

Realistically that's probably how that would play out though. He goes to all the trouble to plot and scheme the murder only to slip fall and drown to death in a swamp. So Keiichi drives the motorcycle the late Tenpenny Houjou had into the swamp, and then begins to have a heart to heart with what he feels is the now at peace spirit of Satoshi.

I know it's not what will happen, but it would be funny if Keiichi goes to all this effort and thinks he's done well for the spirit of Satoshi and Satoko, and he just shows up cause he's back from wherever he ran off to. And it turns out the entire time he was just having off-screen adventures and didn't actually murder anyone. Anyway, shortly after axe-throwing the baseball bat into the swamp Keiichi realizes the problem with committing a night-based murder and finds he doesn't know where he is, or where he left the hole he was going to dump the body in. Which is a pretty amateur mistake to make given all of his plotting and scheming about where, when, and how to do the deed that he forgot the simple truth that it gets dark at night.

[doublefreegames]

Travel Devil - better the devil you know!

There's less than a week left of judging for the Spooktober Visual Novel Jam and it's been a fantastic experience for us so far! Travel Devil has received such wonderful feedback and critiques. We take on board everything that is written to us so we can make better games every time!

So today I'm going to give a little insight into how and why Travel Devil came to be.

Do you wanna know how Travel Devil came to exist?

Originally we put together a game idea for a spooky pet adoptions agency. The game would take place on Halloween and have six pets (3 unlocked and 3 locked) to play with. Each pet was going to have a unique story and minigame associated with it. It was codenamed "Spoopy Pets" and it was far too much for the me and Robert to take on and complete in the Spooktober VN Jam timeframe. We worked on it for the first two days of the jam before we were flagging problems up, so we changed trajectory. It's not a dead idea though, it's in the list of rainy day ideas.

Speaking of the rainy day ideas list, that's where Travel Devil comes in. We thought this up a while ago but just put it on the back burner as there was no time to work on it. The concept was simple - a demon escapes hell and starts a travel log. Then the servants of hell follow in its wake starting the apocalypse march on humanity. When Spoopy Pets became too big we had a look at what we had to play with and Travel Devil just sort of fell into place. Robert started writing and I started drawing.

Character design went pretty smoothly. I went for a mix of cartoon styles, drawing inspiration from things like Dead End, Gravity Falls, The Simpsons and Garfield.

Traditionally, visual novels use anime and manga style design but truth be told, I'm not very good at that style. It takes me ages to make characters look good when I try to draw like that. Hats off to all the wonderful artists in this jam who made beautiful, scintillating characters. I'm so impressed by their dedication to fantastic character art.

One of the first pitfalls I encountered was background art. I like to use sites like Pixabay to get backgrounds but recently it's been flooded with AI artworks. The game jam expressly forbids AI use in your game so we had to get creative.

Fortunately this game revolves around travel vlog creation in Paris and we found loads of creative commons photos of the famous tourist destination. Seriously there are so many fantastic photographers out there and it was a complete life and time saver for the jam. All I had to do was add a translucent white filter to the top of the photos to make the characters pop out and we had our backgrounds!

Development went well once we got on the right track. Travel Devil was made using Ren'py which is a joy to develop with. We did have to wind back our ideas at one point as both Robert and I got sick with a nasty bug but we made it. We stripped back some choices and streamlined the game to make sure we could get finished. Originally, we wanted the player to be able to unlock multiple hidden scenes in one playthrough. As the deadline loomed we simplified it so that the player would only see one of three potential side stories that were growing due to the activities of our main character Tornacense per playthrough. We included 7 unlockable scenes and also 6 unlockable images in our gallery.

There's also a nifty guide to finding all the unlockables right here if you want a more relaxing time while playing.

If you've had a chance to play Travel Devil you may have noticed that we planted some seeds in our side stories that will be big plot points as we go forward. Travel Devil is going to be a series of five games travelling around Europe making video journals and outrunning the underworld.

Tornacense and Kirby will grow, we'll meet lots of new strange and devastating people and love could be just around the corner! Who knows? That choice will be yours.

If you want to check out the first installment of Travel Devil you can nab a pentagram portal and find it right here.

Travel Devil was made for the 5th Annual Spooktober Visual Novel Jam in under 30 days. The next one will be made with a lot more time dedicated to it!

Thanks for stopping by!

DoubleFree - Artist and coder for Travel Devil

[cerise-on-top]

A Day After

I am hungover as all hell right now, I'm surprised I can still stand and all! So! What better thing to do than to imagine a beautiful streamer girl taking care of you after beating your butt at Mario Kart!

Thank you to @parasocialitevn for allowing me to write for her and making a female yandere vn! I am blessing you for this! I hope this is good enough!

Ah, the misery that had crept upon you, ever so silently from a crater of your own making. Whereas children outside spent their time making their cheer known to the world at a frequency most unpleasant to you, you could do naught but frown. For the intensity at which they experienced life did not match your own. Whereas boy and girl would fight dragons with swords of sticks and ammunition of stone, you were trapped inside, your head pounding as much as your heart did not too long ago. For as painful as it all had seemed, it was nature’s course: You were hungover from last night.

A bucket next to you, emptied anytime it had been refilled, brought a smell of utmost foulness with it. Memories of last night flooded your brain whenever you as much as took a whiff of its stench. Even so, you had to admit, it was a pleasant night altogether. Drinking in solitude may have been frowned upon, both by society and yourself, with both parties in agreement that it might be a pathetic and lonely custom, but you had company in your misery. Company, that nursed you back to health, or at least tried to.

“My love, you should drink some water and eat some toast. It’s said that it soaks up the stomach acid!”

It almost felt as though your wife was taking care of you with how gentle she was being. A glass of water in one hand, a plate of toast in the other, all the while a lovestruck smile was on her face. By no means did it go unnoticed by you, but you had bigger problems than considering your crush was acting like your wife. “Eden, you’re such a sweetheart, I have no idea however I should repay you.”

Upon being called a sweetheart, her grin only grew in size as it seemed for a moment she was shaking from merely a word. With pride in her steps and a straight back, she made her way towards you, who was sitting on your bed, head in your hands as you’re hunched over, considering your life choices. A sigh escaped you as she set down the plate and glass on the nightstand next to you. When a weight settled down next to you, not even then could you bring yourself to look up. Still, having someone look out for you like this felt nice. Memories of last night flashed before your eyes as you wondered how your companion hadn’t been as affected as you were.

Heaving a sigh, you finished in place just after her, meaning you had to take another shot. Her eyes, filled with glee and remorse, were telling that Eden intended for you to win instead. After all, a professional streamer wouldn’t end up in 6th place, just behind you, for the majority of the race. Still, it must have felt nice to her, to win. What are video games for if not the serotonin boost of beating a hard boss, or perhaps winning against your friends and family in a friendly, but heated, racing game.

“Sorry, Y/N, but if it makes you feel better, I can take a shot with you.” She shot you a friendly smile, tilting her head as she put her controller on her lap. Playing with the joystick of it still, she reached for the glass filled with some cheap, disgusting wine. But you couldn’t have that. Yes, your performance was gradually getting worse, but at least you had an excuse for such. For as much as it made your face distort every time you even thought of taking another sip, it was strong enough.

Strong enough for you to feel its effects sooner than you thought you would.

Her pink eyes, her soft skin, it all looked so alluring. But then again, she was a streamer, a very pretty one at that, so she was bound to take care of herself to some degree. Though, you doubted she considered her simps too much, given how, even when struggling against you during a round of a video game of your choice, she still glanced over at you, making sure you were okay. If only you had been that oblivious. It didn’t need a detective to be able to tell that she was into you. Then again, her cheerful nature was contagious. The way she doted on you, the way she would brush her hand “accidentally” against yours. The way she would smile whenever she got to see you. The way she hid her squeals and held her face in her hands whenever you complimented her.

With little to no problem, she reached out to her glass, her intentions clear. It wasn’t until she almost brought it to her lips that you realised what she was actually doing. Naturally, you couldn’t have that. “Eden.” You gently grabbed her arm, tugging at it in hopes of getting her attention. “You silly goose, it’s my turn to drink, I lost, after all. It’s only fair!”

The nickname had her giggle a bit, but ultimately, she put her glass down, watching you as you downed another shot, cringing at its taste. Coughing a bit, you set down your beverage as well, yearning for the moment you could finally drink something else. Your perception may have been altered, feeling woozy as well as a pounding in your head already, but you could have sworn Eden sighed as she took in your drunken state. It was surprising she could still be into you, even when you were about to pass out. Then again, it was hard to not feel the same way about her. In vino veritas, but by no means were you drunk enough yet to confess to her.

“M gonna bring ya down, Eden. Next round.”

“Haha, next round indeed. I believe in you, Y/N.”

The way she said your name, it was hard to believe she hadn’t rolled onto her stomach, kicking her legs in the air while giggling, yet.

While it felt like a surprise at first, soon enough you relaxed into her touch as she gently rubbed soothing circles into your back. “How are you feeling?” Her voice was as soothing and gentle as lying in a field of grass during a warm spring day. Certainly, there weren’t too many things you remembered from last night, not after your last consecutive loss against her, but it was still nice. You felt safe with her. Had she done anything with and to you, you likely would have remembered. But no, nothing. You didn’t feel disgusted, you didn’t feel sullied, you simply felt relaxed around her. While she may have been in love with you, you didn’t feel as though Eden would take advantage of you. Giving you a hug, perhaps, but that’s about it. Not that your touch starved self would be opposed to that anyway.

“M fine.” You sighed again, feeling your stomach get more upset. But it never turned into anything more. You were grateful to any and every deity out there for that.

“You really overdid it this time, didn’t you? I’m sorry. Don’t worry, I’ll make it up to you, it’s the least I can do.”

“Eden, you’re a heaven-sent.” Your entire body was pulsating as it took in her warmth, it was a surprise you hadn’t collapsed yet. But by Jove, when was the last time you had actually been touched like that? If being hungover like this was what it took to be this close to her, then maybe it was worth it after all. Twitching and shivering, you took the glass of water, barely capable of not spilling its contents. Downing it slowly, it felt so good, drinking something that wasn’t disgusting wine and cheap vodka. While it may not have alleviated your headache just yet, it sure felt like a life saver already.

Shifting closer until her leg touched yours, she put an arm around you, pulling her closer to her body. “Don’t you wanna eat something as well?”

“Oh hell no, that won’t stay down! Later, once I feel better. But thank you, don’t know where I’d be without you.” No protests whatsoever, not even the need for one, made themselves known as Eden put her head on your shoulder, sighing contently.

“Have it your way, but promise me you’ll eat. Please?” Goshdarnit, she was so adorable.

“Yeah, I promise.”

“Thank you.” And with that, she shifted her head a bit, enough so she can give you a kiss on the cheek. “I love you.”

[miyakuli]

End of Lines

I discovered the French studio Nova Box just a few months ago with their game Seers Isle, and I was enormously charmed by it, especially in terms of atmosphere. So it seemed obvious to me to dive into their new game End of Lines, especially as it uses the same gameplay system as its predecessor. We are this time immersed in a post-apo universe where our choices and resource management will influence the destiny of a family.

Once again, the studio was able to grab me immediately in its universe, the atmospheric work being definitely their strong point. However, I do have a few reservations on certain points.

❤ A well-written story that's very much rooted in reality, since it's about ecology and what we're leaving for future generations, without being too moralistic. The game is more about raising awareness and asking ourselves, like little Sam, how we can try to improve things on our own scale. ❤ I continue on the writing, dwelling a little more on the dialogues and interactions between this little troupe. Nova Box brilliantly shows that you don't need long tirades or cheeky lines to create emotion. On the contrary, the dialogues are brief and profound, and the simple gestures are enough to make you feel the essential. And how beautiful it is :')

❤ I was delighted to find again the meticulous work on the visual and sound atmosphere. The illustrations are breathtaking, and the color work really makes us share that heavy heat with the characters. The soundscape is not to be outdone, with beautiful music and sound effects that immerse us in every scene.

+/- The system of resources to manage is a good idea, but to tell the truth, even after several games I can't really tell if they really influence the course of the story. I think there's a lack of potential here. +/- Pretty good replayability, with 4 unlockable endings and key scenes, but there aren't that many branches, so it gets pretty repetitive if you want to complete everything.

✖ The game is really very short (compared, for example, to Seers Isle, which was short but better balanced). It took me barely 2 hours to play my first game, without rushing. As a result, the development of certain characters feels "too fast", and I would have liked to linger on them longer. ✖ Also, since the narrative remains similar most of the time, replaying a game will take even less time to finish if you try to "skip" the scenes you've already read. ✖ I had complained about this in their previous game, but there is no "skip" option or even indications for text that has already been read. The only way I've found is to hold down the space bar to speed things up a bit, but that's still pretty laborious. ✖ The beginning of the story is too brutal, let me explain. As soon as I started my game, I found myself in the middle of a dialogue, without any real introduction. So yes after that we quickly get into the story, but every time I restart the game, I find this first scene too abrupt and I miss it as a real introduction (not necessarily with texts, but like we feel that we are embarking on something).

While I'm still seduced by Nova Box's visual and narrative universe, I'm a little less convinced by this one in view of its repetitive nature over a short playing time. But yes, I've once again had my eyes and ears totally thrilled, so my experience remains very positive, and I'll be following their future projects with great pleasure!

➡ My personal VN ranking (in french) ➡ My Steam page

[faunastanza]

Species: Kobolds -> Seeds: WAR? is Topside - part 2

Species: Kobolds A reference sheet for a species type that seems vaguely fetishistic about melting and fusing with others. There are mentions of MALwire having vague, malevolent plans.

 midichlorians

At this point I feel like all this MALwire blustering never actually goes anywhere, so what's the point, but I might as well be thorough. Merge Swap is the fusion thing ability, it can also let them swap stuff emotionally/spiritually, whatever that means. Socketpuppet was from Circlet of the Sun if you recall, the redacted VN. Basically I think this is saying that MALwire wants to use Merge Swap to connect different Frequencies to each other, but if they don't "solve" for Socketpuppet then it'll cause reality errors. None of this ever comes up later, I'm almost positive.

Seeds: WAR? is Topside Ch 6

 what!!

Out of nowhere, holy crap!! It's the old plot and the old characters!! Jasmaby is on the title card!! It's actually happening!!

Well, eventually. Glip talks more about RP events in their server in the summary, saying they've been running Eastar RP events for about a year after a couple years before that of planning. We never see any of that so I'll take their word for it. They say they're ready to come back to the actual characters again, finally, although they tease that you can find out about the upcoming story early by joining the discord. Glip really wants you to join their discord.

Luneko's Journey: a tale of cosmic care

A zine Glip put together with some people in their discord about death and pets after their pet cat Pearl died. It's sweet and heartfelt, I have nothing but sympathy. Oddly, there is plot in it though.

If you remember from Crash Landing, Alice and a Luneko were [checks notes] okay, Alice was looking for the Mask of the Sun, believing it'd give her the powers to do anything she wanted. Twigs, the Luneko, crashed looking for the Masked Sun and came with Alice. Twigs admonishes Alice that she's broken the sky with her wish, while Alice says it has nothing to do with her and she just wanted a magic wish mask. Twigs says whatever the case, a broken sky (among other things) is the price to pay.

Alice is annoyed and asks if Twigs is going to help or admonish her for thought crimes. Meanwhile angel looking dudes are scurrying around as Alice runs through the city.

 related to being cancelled? you never know

Twigs says that Alice is going to be in big trouble if she can't recognize that "help" can involve telling her that her wishes exploded the sky and such. Alice asks what's going on with the shear in the sky. Twigs says that the Mask of the Sun WAS broken, that it was used and then "malice" broke it in half, but it was restored thanks to the shear in the sky. Alice gets annoyed, thinking that Twigs is blaming her for it, which Twigs doesn't confirm or deny.

Twigs says he doesn't judge her, but any judgement she has for herself will manifest when she crosses... the threshold!! It's a door not unlike the one Orobas went through a million years ago and it appears to be in a fairy ring.

 did jupet die there again

Twigs then says that if Alice wants to slip into "any story", she has to learn herself. "In order to bear the mask of divine creation, you must see the possibility of creation in every act of destruction or there will be nothing left of you", Twigs says. Alice runs through the door, scoffing that she "knows ALL ABOUT play time, Twigs". This seems like a callback to Beleth who had that a sort of catchphrase when in battle, but what conclusions to draw from that, I have no idea. I guess Alice skipped town to a better universe.

There's a second story where Toxinuate and Pengo's character talk about Pearl that is also fully rendered in color. It's mostly very sad, but it does mention that they are apparently in Heaven's Keys right now.

 :(

Seeds: WAR? is Topside - part 1

Several months later, the first installment! Another VN, they're all VNs now. These ones are actually cleaned up and colored, which I think marks the end of the MSPaint era of VNs. Maybe.

We open with Inkcat, although they look a bit different. Someone called Problemedic (get it) calls out to them, calling them Janitor. It's Toxinuate! But she has a new name apparently!

 weird to see you two with clear lines

Problemedic gives Janitor a hug which makes them teary, with them saying that they haven't seen anyone else in a while. Prob asks them what they've been up to then, and Janitor says they've been keeping an eye on Pearl/Purrl, the Luneko from before. Janitor gives Purrl whatever she wants and she's living the high life, so good for her. Janitor says that it is hard to get her to take her medicine, a problem Glip was having with the real life Pearl as well. Problemedic assures her that she's looking for a cure, although Purrl just sulks at this.

Prob fills Janitor in on how she met "the silliest little angel" on Horseshoe, and I forget where Horseshoe is, in Owel or in Eastar. Well, either way, Prob says that they'd met him before in Heaven's Keys, and that they don't know how they both ended up in the same place again. Janitor runs to get their mop while asking Prob what the purpose behind it was. Prob then realizes they don't remember why they were in Heaven's Keys, or what they were doing there. Janitor asks if they were with the silly angel, and Prob isn't sure, they just remember being with someone, sort of.

Prob vaguely recalls showing someone something at the Encore Medical Bay. Is this yet another reference to Circlet of the Sun? You'll never escape that VN! Never!!

 if mr. 5 comes back i'm going to riot

Janitor asks if they had a task there, and Prob can't quite remember, which they find frustrating. Were they explaining Undertakers, dreamers, moles, angels? They do remember a mole. Prob remembers they were tall and they were showing them how to work the control panel for MALwire, maybe, then says that it all feels like a dream now. They say they think it was related to Horseshoe but they can't remember how.

Problemedic continues to struggle with their memory. They say the silly little angel was very worked up over something. When they met again in Horseshoe, Prob says they were checking for "Chordincepts" and the silly angel helped them. Janitor asks about the Chordincepts and Prob says they all broke out, incensing Janitor who says they just cleaned up around here. Prob again says they don't know why it happened, just that it happened. They mention Arcus "taking from the world" and that that could be related.

 Hey they don't have the sun on their apron anymore now that I notice, what gives

Problemedic says they'll check their notes to see, then lament that some ruffians made a mess of them. Perhaps... The Ruffians Three???? They see that all their notes on Owel are in a pile. They ask Janitor what they meant by saying they cleaned up after the Chordincepts. Abruptly we cut to a sort of half-faced TALcat.

 sure why not

The Bitecat asks if they can hug/bite you, and it turns out they're directing this at Amdusias!! Oh my god, it's Amdusias!!!! It turns out to be one of those hallucination fakeouts though as it's just Beleth talking to her.

 weren't you both in an angel dimension turning into each other or something

Anyway, Beleth admonishes Amdusias that they're supposed to be on vacation and she needs to relax. Beleth DID apparently ask if they could hug her though. Amdusias wants formal literal explanations for why as she normally does. It's interesting to compare her as she appears now to as she looked years and years ago.

 a bit smoother and rounder

Amdusias wants to know why Beleth asked to hug her, and Beleth yells that it's because she's their friend and she looked sad. We cut back to the Biteycat asking if Amdusias wants a more specific question, and that they want to play with her.

 stripey tail, jot that down

Amdusias mostly looks annoyed at this, so it's not entirely clear if she's seeing Biteycat or not. She says she looks and feels totally normal. Beleth gives her a look. Suddenly, Biteycat has her head in Amdusias's giant hands and says that they want to act until one of them breaks (everyone is always breaking!) and that they want to do it over and over and over again. No one is apparently paying attention to Bitecat though as Beleth and Amdusias continue on their way looking irritated.

Beleth asks how long Amdusias is going to avoid talking about it, with Biteycat following with "please specify, you are being vague". And then the VN just abruptly stops. IT'S OVER, GET OUT!!

Seeds: WAR? is Topside - part 2 This opens with a title card saying that this is the story of Sona and her angel, "The Host". Sona was Amdusias's doppelganger if you remember, the alternate personality/form that Uniqorns have for stressful situations and the like. We also see AmdTV for the first time in a million years, God damn, all these plot threads all coming back all of a sudden!!

 I think that's AmdTV anyway

Sona sits looking like a my little pony and thinks vague thoughts about someone. She doesn't want someone to be around, although it has nothing to do with that person personally. She says that she was trapped, and now she isn't, and now the other one is trapped, and now they're both trapped, so can they talk? Typical alternate personality power struggles.

Sona calls out hello. She then looks pensive as the narration says she's keenly interested in an exchange student from Micah in Topside, so this is set in the old world I guess. Sona is the naked model in class and the exchange student won't look her in the face, always looking away whenever Sona looks at her. It turns out it's god damn Pride in the most unflattering outfit in the entire world.

 got my big mauve diaper at target

It turns out that Pride is a Bastian with gigantism and that's why she's so enormous. Pride doesn't speak the local language (there are different languages but this almost never comes up) and is only taking the class in Hellside because it's an "Advanced resonance" class. Sona decides to test something and sings a bit to see how Pride responds. Pride is taken aback by this and shakily attempts to sing back to her.

Sona says that she was sent here to train the resonance teachers, since they're the ones who defend the Blackjack Isles, and that being an art model is a side gig to keep herself from being bored. Sona violated a law, it says, as she and Pride look adoringly at each other. Her horn goes raaaarr.

 0z0

She resonated with a Topsider!!! "In her, she is seen" it says. Sona doesn't know what she's resonating with, but it feels very familiar and also very wrong. Just when things are getting ominous

 [audience goes wild]

Andre appears on Pride's canvas!! It's a big old reunion party in here!! Pride and Andre talk but it's all redacted. Pride looks rather unhappy and worried about it though. Meanwhile Sona sits there :)ing and then flashes into AmdTV for a second. And then Pride's canvas turns into AmdTV!!

 andre is out

Pride yells something at Sona but it's redacted. Sona runs forward singing to try and stop the angel or do something anyway. But then it turns out it's Amdusias! She's fallen out of bed and Toxinuate and Orobas are there. I was about to say "I guess Orobas is okay after all" but it turns out she's tied up in a chair while Toxinuate looks concerned and HotheadBeleth stands nearby looking ominous. Amusingly, Orobas just looks really irritated.

 i'm missing my shows, ugh

Tox tells Amdusias that she needs to wait over there and that she's in no condition to walk, and that they'll take care of the problem and "tend to her next". If you guessed this just pisses Amdusias off, then you're correct! She looks angry and then throws up a lot of... meowing... cat keys...? while AmdTV looks on.

uh i'm playing the trombone back here, do you MIND

 I've tried to keep track of the symbolism in this comic and I don't remember ever seeing these before, except as Luneko faces when they're whining for food or something which I don't think is the case here. I've got nothing.

Toxinuate gets closer to presumably biting off Orobas's head while she just looks angrier about it lol. Tox says that there are so many things about Orobas that need fixing, and BelethHead concurs, saying that she only causes problems and doesn't listen. Amdusias struggles to get up with all the weird things coming out of her mouth while her speech is redacted. Toxinuate tells her it's okay and to just rest, and that they can fix it for her, and that they can fix Orobas for her. Just rest, they say.

Amdusias wakes up from ANOTHER nightmare, so I guess she was two layers deep? Orobas does not appear to be with her.

We cut back to Problemedic and Purrl, with Purrl refusing to take her medicine. Then we cut back to Beleth and someone named Devin wondering if Amdusias is still asleep since they want to go to a convention. Devin wonders if they're going to cancel the convention for some unexplained reason, saying that it "looks pretty serious". Beleth says staying at home isn't going to change anything. Devin says that "it" is happening in Trebol proper and not out in the wilderness, and that it even got the "Art Pyramid". Won't the commanders need your help, Devin asks. Shades of Itchy Itchy here.

Beleth says probably but they're on strict orders to be on vacation and they can't get there in time anyway. We get a look at Devin who appears to be a turkey.

 need a lot of hands for this one

Beleth wonders about whatever it is, but reasons that even if it's at the Art Pyramid, that's where Andre is, so it's the strongest point in Trebol, so things will be fine. Beleth and Devin bicker for a bit and leave, with AmdTV showing up ominously on the monitor in the back.

Amdusias, awake, shows up and demands they leave at once. Beleth says that they said they didn't have to go and things will be fine without them. Amdusias insists and Beleth says that they checked with Pride and Baphomet and they both said that Amdusias is too much of a risk to be fighting angels right now. Beleth mentions that Pride isn't answering her compact which catches Amdusias's attention.

Amdusias rails about how Trebol is her home and she should be going back there to defend it, but Beleth is unmoved. They're going to set up a table at the con, although I don't know what any of them are going to be selling. Maybe Devin sells turkey doujinshi or something. Anyway, then the VN just ends.

In the summary, Glip says they're excited about where the story is going, but that it'll take a while to get there. They insist they've been doing a lot of work on it in the background over the past years and they're having fun weaving it all together. If you think the next updates are going to be about these characters, ha ha! Ha ha ha.

[vewormeet]

Monster girl island halloween demo

Monster girl island halloween demo how to#

Monster girl island halloween demo code#

Monster girl island halloween demo professional#

I know I don't make public posts often and there hasn't been a public demo since the fist one, but honestly at this point I don't care if people think I'm dead. I'm not a huge fan of that kind of content in porn games, the idea has been since the very start to make a 3D dating sim/VN with some freedom. You will never get me to work with other people on the game if it's not in a physical studio.Ībout gameplay, if you mean something like a combat system that was never the plan. I'm not hiring artists/animators because.

Monster girl island halloween demo code#

The code of the game is already finished.

Monster girl island halloween demo professional#

I usually don't like playing with game music, and if there's gonna be voice acting and it's in English, I'm going to want to turn that down too because I'm a weeaboo degenerate.Ĭlick to expand.The current plan includes a music person (already working on the game) Voice actresses (Gonna need 21 of them) and hopefully an animated opening by a professional team. Whenever you add music, sound fx, and voice acting, please let us turn down things if we want. I'd want to see "Sunshard Forest" on the map after I learn that it exists in the game and I've spent time there, such as after the whole episode with the Kitsune Sisters.Ħ. I don't wanna open the map on Day 1 and see "Sunshard Forest" or w/e it was called because that kind of kills the fun for me. I imagine Ophelia would maybe put something in your phone that creates a map of the island as you explore it. A map, but not one that just shows everything right from the start. (This is kinda jokingly, as I assume you already have something else planned given what she said and the tooltip on the Red Mushrooms)ĥ. Let me play with Faranne after the Mushroom scene. I only found out later when I was exploring on my own, and saw them standing next to each other upstairs, that you had to talk to the other sister to sell.

Monster girl island halloween demo how to#

I was actually getting frustrated because I couldn't figure out how to sell things. Please put the sisters in the same spot for their shops. I'd also love it if items stacked, so it would say I had Log x5 instead of each log taking up an inventory spot, but I can also see why you wouldn't want it that way.ģ. I'd love if it time stopped while I had the inventory open. There's a certain bit added to the immersion when there isn't a targeting crosshair, but I think the functionality of the reticle would help save my sanity when trying to hit bugs.Ģ. It's not really needed, but it would help. A target reticle when using the crossbow. He's not even trolling correctly, he said the game is "years" old.He didn't even do a slight bit of research to troll the right way.I'd suggest you ignore people like that.Things I'd love to see implemented in the future:ġ. Prologue was finished this year, I don't know what fever dream you had to think you played it years ago.Īnd I could easily start a sequel after the game is released if I wanted to, your argument is moronic. I mean the prologue is what 2 or is 3 years old? With what this has made it should have like 3 titles out by now and it doesn't even have an EA working title just a demo, and several demos of H scenes he puts out once a year or so to keep the money flowing. I supported it ages ago and after 2 years with nothing but more sub bait I gave up. He hides donation numbers but I saw it years ago befoe it was removed taking tens of thousand a month and this is YEARS old. This game makes more money unfinished a month then it would if it finished and sold for 200 a pop on steam. Originally posted by Zalzany:The official is when the money stops comming in.

[shuttershocky]

Why is it that FATE is in this weird in between of being one ofnthe most popular/richest franchises in global media ,but at the same time being unknown/niche to the general mainstream? Like its got a global following,but you need to go look for it

Here's the thing. You /think/ it's niche, you /think/ it's unknown, but it's not. It really isn't. Type-Moon hasn't been a humble doujin circle for a while, and its works aren't obscure things you have to go looking for nowadays.

Go to any convention and you'll find at least one Saber / Archer cosplayer. Look through any place selling anime merch and I guarantee you a good chunk of them are going to be servants. Hell FGO had a publishing deal with bookstores where they'd put "As seen on FGO" on the covers of books like The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, or Carmilla, or The Phantom of the Opera" because they thought associating with FGO made those books sell, and they did. To the point where Ryouma's biography ended up selling out when he became a servant.

Last time I visited Tokyo, I ran into Nero twice in one day. The first time was a big banner advertising Fate/Extra Last Record in the Skytree, then the second was on a big TV ad in the middle of Akihabara. Taking the train back to my hotel in Asakusa, I glimpsed a large billboard featuring anime characters, with Saber front and center.

You don't have to go looking for Fate. If you're into anime, you can't avoid Fate. It's one of the largest Japanese franchises in the world now and has literally made billions of dollars.

I feel like what makes it feel niche / not mainstream are three things:

1) There is no proper entry point. Almost everything is an adaptation (of varying quality) and the original Fate/Stay Night was a visual novel with three very different routes, meaning an anime adaptation could never encompass the full experience, thus anime-onlies would end up missing out unless they were curious enough to actually look things up. Fate/Zero's anime is maybe the closest thing to a proper entry point to the franchise for a casual fan, but then afterwards you got to tell the new viewer "Okay from here it splits three ways and you can watch this anime from studio DEEN in 2006, this one from Ufotable in 2014, or this movie series also by Ufotable and then there are all these other spinoffs" and if they actually do that or even read the visual novel then they're no longer a casual fan, they're one of /you/ now. The result is a fanbase that has become gargantuan in size and yet feels like it's a niche nerd club, because anyone who actually overcomes the entry barrier isn't considered by others to be a casual fan who is part of the mainstream anymore.

2) Nasu and Takeuchi never stopped treating Type-Moon like a doujin circle made up of their friends even after going corporate. The Tsukihime remake exhibit in the Type-Moon museum for example, had Tsukihime's programmer explain how not only was he in charge of programming the visual novel, but he was also pulling double duty and being their system administrator along with a whole bunch of other jobs. Type-Moon didn't expand to become a major company employing hundreds of people even after its success, it just partnered up with other companies like DelightWorks to do that heavy lifting for it while the same 15 or so names from two freaking decades ago keep doing what they've always done. I think in some way this has kept TM works from ever feeling "corporate". Having the same team over and over has made the fanbase keenly aware of each writer's distinctive style as opposed to design by committee works that attempt to appeal to as many people as possible. Even FGO, the most mass appeal work Type-Moon has got, still has that something that makes it feel like Type-Moon.

3) This shit really did start niche and the fanbase just never really grew out of seeing it in that way. Nasu and Takeuchi weren't exactly overnight successes: Kara No Kyoukai was an obscure novel initially published on Takeuchi's website; they had to package the first 5 chapters of KnK with Tsukihime because they thought that was the only way to get KnK more readers, and when they made Tsukihime they were literally surviving on cup noodles and working multiple jobs. Their fanbase then would have known Type-Moon as a humble doujin circle taking part in the then-rising VN genre of games. As Type-Moon would get new fans, old fans would describe Type-Moon to them in that way and speak of their fanbase like some niche club. New fans would get this idea of Type-Moon being niche and repeat this to more new fans as time goes by. Repeat over and over again for the next 20 years.

[herotome]

hello! i was wondering if you were going to add the ability to change your pronouns and/or have less feminine pics for MC? i personally use they/them pronouns and like to play games where i can use them even if i do not put myself into the game... thank you for your time!

In regards to the MC's appearance: 

Yes, I do want to include more customization options in the future, though you may be disappointed to hear that I plan on making this a paid feature. I’m interested in making it a crowdfunding reward tier, where backers can design their own MC to appear in that little resume profile picture box.

Masculine-presenting MCs are more than welcome. While I can't predict what profile pictures people will submit (or if people would even be willing to pay for that kind of thing), I will always encourage people to headcanon their MCs however they like.

In regards to changing pronouns:

important update from 2023: Haha... how the turn tables. How should I say this? I’ve come around. “Daisy’s changed her mind,” so to speak.

You can now choose your pronouns in Herotome. The protagonist is still intended to be a woman (and can be cis OR trans, as I always intended), but pronouns can be swapped between he/she/they, and even changed on the fly after a certain point in the game, so you can rp as genderfluid!

I was not pressured into this decision, I just took a long long time to reflect and really think. I've tested it extensively and it feels right.

Mainly, I had to internalize that gender =/= pronouns. He/him lesbians exist, I use they/them myself, and there are all sorts of beautiful gender identities out there!! I've just seen gender paired with pronouns so often in games; when the player decides on one, they are automatically deciding on the other...

It was freeing when I understood that it doesn't have to be that way. I don't have to make my game that way.

My thoughts from 2021 are persevered below, with certain areas crossed out. I don't want to hide or delete my statement from back then even though it's far from perfect, and I think it's important to showcase how thoughts and feelings can change over time.

Thank you for your patience understanding!!

----

I once replied to an ask about pronoun customization a long time ago, but I have been feeling a need to update my response. My previous statement was people pleasing and overly cordial. I was terrified of disapproval, of disappointment, and of rejection. I hated the idea that someone would be turned off by the game just because the protagonist is a woman. I knew there was a high demand for customizations of all kinds, and the very idea of going against what people want has caused me... still causes me a lot of grief. It's taken effort to try to let go of this haunting need for approval. I've increasingly begun to feel that my previous statement sends the wrong message, and that by hiding my shifting feelings on the subject I am bordering on dishonesty. As such, here is my updated response: 

No, I will not be adding pronoun options to Herotome.  If Herotome is no longer a game that interests you due to lacking this option: I understand completely.

I enjoy many IFs and VNs that do feature pronoun options, and surely you will enjoy them as well. I can recommend the highly beloved Perfumare and The Passenger, for starters. You may also enjoy The Remainder and Hybrid, which feature canon non-binary protagonists.

I'm sorry if I’ve disappointed any of you by being ambiguous or by refusing to answer asks about on the topic of pronoun customization - this was selfish on my part.

... But I would like to elaborate more on this subject, if you'll allow me, because there is a disturbingly common misconception that adding pronouns to a game is as easy as flicking a switch.

(There should be a “Read More” link under here. Of there isn’t please just click on the post itself to view it in full).

In code, yes, you could say it works like a light switch. On-off. He-she-they. 

Now. I would like to direct your attention to the network of wires connected to the light switch, which run beneath the walls and connect to various light sources throughout my house. The wires represent grammar, the protagonist’s POV, artwork depicting the protagonist, and how the protagonist is perceived by other characters. The lights represent every single instance the protagonist’s gender is referenced to in-game.

(Yes there are way too many lights in my house, it's a weird horror party house - bear with me.) In writing an interactive game designed for immersion, I have wired the game a certain way: the protagonist is perceived as a young woman throughout the game, going by "she/her." So in our silly metaphor the lights are... let's say they're green lights. Were I to add a pronoun-switching light switch, with the goal of giving my players the freedom to chance their pronoun lights whenever and however they please, I will have to: A) Write for ALL the perspectives: 

...by gutting the walls to add additional sets of wires, so the lights in my house can be flipped to various different colors - he-she-they - purple-green-gold. 

But that’s not all. We have to ensure every single wire is affixed to the CORRECT lights because otherwise you’ll have this one flickering green light while the rest of the house is gold, and people are going to send me messages asking what's wrong with my house lights, it's rather disturbing to have one random green light flashing at them when they'd definitely flipped the switch to gold. 

The lights are so much fun and deeply engaging, but require careful supervision and frequent maintenance. It’s an enormous amount of work, and frankly every dev who undertakes it deserves all the patience and understanding in the world.  B) Write in a gender neutral way:

... by gutting the walls to rip out the wires entirely, throwing all mentions of being a woman directly into the trash. Replace the wires with gray ones and turn some of the lights permanently off. The pronouns can change, but much of the language concerning the MC will become vague. Muted. Palatable. No colors.  Designed to please everyone and offend no one. You flip the switch, some lights turn on... and there's no longer that wash of color that makes the lights feel personal and catered to you and how you present yourself. 

But hey, if you're playing as an android or a space alien or if you're on a fantastic magic adventure where gender roles are totally irrelevant -- who even needs colorful lights? The gender neutral way can work, has worked, and a lot of people (including me) do enjoy them. However, I do think that if all games were written this way, we would lose out on a lot of varied perspectives, and that’s not what we should strive for.

Many devs plan their game around the wires from the beginning - whether the lights are gray, or many colors, or just one color. 

I planned for Herotome to be one color. It's a shade of red that is quite personal to me, because I want to try and show people how incredibly beautiful and interesting this shade of red can be, amid an industry populated with cheaply made, mass produced, poorly-translated-blank-slate-primary-color-protagonist-red. (DOUBLE, TRIPLE EMPHASIS on "industry" and "mass produced," y'all better not think I'm throwing shade at my fellow indies when I'm throwing it at soulless mobile and mainstream games LOL)

I truly did consider gutting the walls to add pronoun options at one point. I’ve considered it at multiple points. I second guess my decision and I stress and I spiral, but the more I develop the game, the less feasible the idea becomes and the more it breaks my heart.  ... So there you have it. There's my pronoun light switch manifesto. I’ve been putting it off and holding it in and as a result it's been boiling over for a longggg time. 

Sorry again if this is disappointing news for some of you. I need to accept that I can't make everyone happy, and not everyone is going to enjoy the game. But it's going to be okay. ❤︎  Either way, I’ll catch y’all on the flip flop.

Much love,

Wudge

[synstoria]

My tikok experimentation

TW: marketing, bad jokes 😅

So, I am doing a lot of marketing research even if I don’t really like it; I think it’s important to do. I read many articles talking about how tiktok algorithm was favorable to game dev because it shows more easily content they are not following to people.

I tried my hand at it once:

And it took me waaaaaay too much time to do, because I am not used to video editing, not used to tiktok app AND perfectionist. Like, I wanted to make a video that matches the beats of the music, but it’s not a thing at all in tiktok videos. Unless the music is meant to have a shift at a particular point, people usually just slap a music on a video and that’s all. I also wanted to make clean screenshot, but the trend is to just film your computer screen with your phone. My perfectionnist side CAN’T do that.

Finally, Tiktok is all about trends, so you actually have to consume a lot of tiktok vids to know which music and which kind of « memes » are trendy, which seems really time consuming, and I am already sooo busy…

At this point, I decided it was not for me and gave up.

Later, I found yet another video about how tiktok was an incredible marketing tool, naming an account « DarkDeityGame » with a SRPG kind of game with practically no animation but a lot of sprites, so I gave it some more thinking. (Fun fact, I couldn’t find back the account, until I understand they renamed it and now the dev practically only do face cam videos.)

So a month ago, I gave it another shot; I wanted to conduct a brief experiment, so I decided to NOT publish the video on my other social media account so I would really gauge the magical algorithm. I found someone very nice specialising on videos creation (especially tiktok ones) and she was very professional. She took the time to listen to all my thought about the game and community private joke to get ideas of funny vids.

Anyway, confident in this person I commissioned her to create 8 videos for me and do some hashtag research. She created silly vids with trendy music. A friend of mine spending a lot of time on tiktok told me the vibe was here even if it was a little too static because it’s just sprite.

For example:

Or more contemplative ones:

I posted the video, with the hashtags and stuff, and I got… 3 view. Basically, only the people who were following me from the first video liked it, and same goes for every video I posted afterward except one.

The only vid who got more than a couple of views, reach around 100 view, it was a "art process" one; I did following one Arimia’s article.

Being not an artist myself, and having an incredible artist but who doesn’t share many WIP it’s not something I can do often.

Overall this experiment was a complete failure and waste of money. 😅

I hope at least it can help some people not doing the same mistakes, so here I some insight about the whole thing.

Why this experiment might have performed so poorly:

As I said, I didn’t share the videos anywhere else for the purpose of the experiment, so they didn’t get any initial view boost.

It’s possible my account performed worse than excepted because I posted a video and then went afk for a few months before posting again. Some people suggest I might have been shadowban while other says tiktok gives another chance when an account rise from the dead. Some other people also said if you delete an account and recreate one just after you might get shadowban aswell.

Like any social media, there is time it’s better to post your content, problem is you can’t schedule the moment they will be posted* and I don’t want to become a slave of tiktok by putting alarms on my phone to post a video (+I am not in the USA time zone, so sometimes it’s at crazy hour for me.)

*You actually can schedule videos on tiktok :

- By having a « business account » but then you have to use the computer app who is very poor AND you can’t use most of the musics on tiktok. Since the videos were already created with trendy music when I noticed, I couldn’t use it.

- By using other apps to do it for you, but a lot of users say you might get shadowban because your videos are posted by a bot.

To avoid being « shadowban » or considered like a bot, it’s apparently better you take the time to interact with others content before and after you post the video, but I had no time to do that, and there was actually not much videos on things that do interest me.

My two cent about the whole thing, and what you can do if you still want to try it out.

I was still impressed that out of nowhere, I could get 100 views on one of the vid without sharing the videos in anyway. If the algorithm is not as magical I thought, there is definitely something to exploit.

Visual novel just lack of movement to be used for tiktok, I think the best and easiest way is to go toward art creation process.

Humor seems to work a lot in tiktok but for reason A, if you want to make jokes, you probably have to use your voice and show your face like the amazing community manager of Among us for example.

Trend are really powerful. I was a bit salty to see on the visual novel tag a lot of vid performing extremely well... while just being someone filming their screen scrolling to show the VN they did in google slide. 😓

Forget everything I say, tiktok is impredictable, just film your screen doing stuff, and you might go viral after all :p

[giorno-plays-piano]

Lovers End Part 5

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: yandere, obsession, emotional abuse, threats, PTSD, minor depiction of violence, allusion to non-con, toxic reader and unhinged Bucky, death of minor characters.

Words: 1318.

Summary: Your marriage is falling apart, and you're done trying to save it when all your spineless husband does is crying at night when he thinks you can't hear him. Little do you know how horrifying Bucky can be.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

P.S. It's not me, it's magnificent @navegandoaciegas and her awesome ideas! Also inspired by TDDUP VN!

____________

Once you finished with the vacuum, you locked yourself in the bathroom with Bucky’s diary in your hands - it was the only place where you could bolt the door. Besides, he could hardly hear you crying from there.

His writing was becoming more and more chaotic: soon he had stopped keeping the dates, and all of it became some kind of never-ending essay about things he hated and feared. You could his mental health deteriorating with every page, and God, you were scared of him - and you pitied him, too. Sometimes you could spot your own name, and you cried when you read how much Bucky loved you. His feelings were gradually evolving into some kind of unhealthy obsession, but you were thankful they didn’t turn into intense hatred, considering the way you treated him up until now.

Reading about you tormenting your husband was something entirely different if you compared it with your own memories - or a lack of those - but the more you read, the more horrified with your actions you became. How did it happen? When did you turn from a supporting wife into a cruel fury ready to tear apart the only person you loved? When did you reach the point of no return? You supposed it could have been that day in December, but Bucky wasn't at fault. Not directly, at least, you thought when you considered his negligence and you working like a horse.

Maybe that terrible thing was just destined to happen to you, anyway.

Regardless, that was no the reason to treat Bucky like that. You could have left a long time ago, realizing where all this had been going, and it would still be better than living how you two lived now. Now you could see the true horror of the situation and what would inevitably happen if you didn't do anything to end it: Bucky could pull the trigger any moment now.

The only option you saw was leaving. Of course, in an ideal world you could ask him to visit doctor Romanova and make him confess he wasn't really following her instructions, help him get back on track and try to recover, but you knew this wasn't going to happen. Not when Bucky had almost suffocated you and locked you in the house. Why would he listen to you now, after everything that happened between you? He'd rather think you are doing this just to get rid of him, so you doubted he'd do what you asked him to. Now there were two ways out - leave or die.

You prefered the first one even knowing Bucky was obsessed with you. You could at least try, couldn't you? In the end, you would finish with a bullet in your head if you did nothing at all to fix all this.

You still couldn't believe it was happening to you. Weren't you a really, really good couple before? You remembered your ex-coworkers envying you when Bucky was visiting the office, a bouquet of wild flowers in his hands. He had always been kind and understanding, gentle, loving, cheerful; the best husband you had ever wanted, that very same prince you had been dreaming about. You loved him to the point of leaving your mother, the only family you had, just because you wanted to be with him. Because of that you were desinherited, but you didn't care as long as Bucky was with you.

Huh, all of a sudden you remembered the times when he was in the hot spot while you waited for him at home, every day waking up with a thought somebody would call and tell you Bucky's dead. It was your worst nightmare because of which you were afraid to go to sleep every night. You prayed for him to return safely, and the day when you received a notice of him losing his left arm, you were hysterical to the point your boss had to send you to the hospital to get help.

Oh, how happy you were the day he came back. Crippled, lost, desperate, barely able to function because of his PTSD but alive. You wanted nothing as much but for your husband to come home to you. That's why, even though the company you worked for went bankrupt and you could find nothing better but being a cashier in a local food store, you were ready to do whatever it took to help Bucky get back on his feet.

Was it too much for you? Were you too weak to go through all this for him? Apparently, you were. With months of constant hard work, insomnia because of the constant night shifts, inability to put food on the table, you forgot why were you doing all this. You forgot how much you loved him and he loved you. It all turned to ashes.

Hiding the diary beneath your bed, you did your best to wipe the tears and make yourself a bit more presentable - now you saw how terrible you looked with those dark circles beneath your eyes and wrinkles, bad skin, prominent blood vessels along the inside of your eyes because constant crying... You were a young woman, still, but you felt like your body was falling to pieces. It couldn't continue like that.

"Bucky, I have to leave." You told him once you approached your husband in the living room still sitting on the couch in front of TV with a blank expression.

However, once he heard you, his face clenched up, "Did you not hear me the first time I said it? You’re going nowhere."

Trembling, you tried to pull yourself together and even sat on the couch, your palms on your knees.

"Bucky, we're not alright. Let's admit it. Things aren't going to come back to how they were before... this. We won't get better."

You swallowed nervously, not looking at him, but Bucky fell silent, waiting for you to continue. You were sure he wasn't insane to the point he didn't understand what was happening.

"Please, let me leave. You can have the house if you want to, I won't take anything. I... I'll be sending you half of my salary until you get yourself a job."

Huh, you probably wouldn't be able to rent your own place with what was left, but maybe you convince your boss to let you sleep in the back room. Hell, even sleeping under the bridge was better than being murdered by your own husband.

When you saw him crawling towards you, you held your breath, "T-this is fair! You can have whatever you want!"

But he didn't stop, and before you could jump off the couch and ran, Bucky was already on top of you, his metal hand grabbing both yours and pining them above your head.

"I want you." He shook his head, sitting on top of you, his flesh arm caressing the curves of your body. "Maybe you're right and we can't go back. But we can do better."

"Get off, Bucky!" You desperately tried pushing him away, but all you did was fueling his desire. "GET OFF!"

"Maybe you'll love me again if I put a baby in you." He exhaled, nuzzling against the crook of your neck, and you frozen in fear and disgust, you eyes wet again despite all your efforts. "And we'll be a real family again."

"NO!"

You didn't know where that power to throw your beefy husband off you came, but you were already up, back on your unsteady legs and ready to fight him even he was going to try suffocating you or breaking your neck. You weren't going to let Bucky do... this to you.

Oh God. You wanted to never let him know of what had happened on the 14th of December, but you had no choice now.

"I've already lost my baby. I'm not doing it again."

_________

Tags: @finleyjayne @alexakeyloveloki   ​@helenaeisenhower @villanellevi @hurricanerin ​@void-hoechlin @abyssaint @heeeyitskay @chris-evans-indian-fanfic @navegandoaciegas @rosalynshields @brattycherubwrites @sllooney @angrythingstarlight @lookiamtrying @buckysbunny @soleil-dor @stargazingfangirl18 @dillybuggg @literate-lamb @cosicas-cuquis @sarge-barnes-sir @buckybarnesplumwhore @jaysayey @megzdoodle @gotnofucks @lux-ravenwolf @iheartsebandchris @ninefuckingoneone

[insertdisc5]

Hi ! I love your wlw visual novel!! I was wondering how did u make it?? I would love to make my own visual novel but i'm not quite sure how to do it or where to start:')

i am now devastated i didnt write down my experience making a vn. it’s been years so here’s a few things

-ren’py is the program i used to make it! there’s also visual novel maker but ive never used it so i can’t say whether its good or not

-i dont know how to code AT ALL so i learned by downloading a random visual novel, opened it in renpy, and looked at the code.... feel free to use serre to analyze how i coded it lol. from that, coding was relatively easy... i remember having some trouble figuring out how to add small animations but thats it!

-WAIT I AM REMEMBERING renpy has a very good website to explain how to use it and i did use it all the time. it’s here use it!!!! it has coding help! its made for dummies!!!!

-coding aside i feel like the process is just like making any other story... you get an idea you write it down you draw a bunch

-ummmm (i look at my old Serre folder) you will need many different assets so make sure to divide them by folder. for example in my assets folder i had a Background folder, a CG folder (for the big illustrations), an Expressions folder (for the characters) a Text folder (for the fonts), a Graphics folder (for the choices background etc) and a Music folder.... divide stuff.... make it easy to find

-thats it i made it a while ago so thats all the advice i have

[aspenglen]

Update 1-30-2022

Canyonlands: American Folklore Update

I'm going to update everyone on the progress of the game:

=========================================

Completed tasks:

The entire story is outlined, including the three major routes. This game won't have set branching systems like in my last game, more like a point system where different points get to different endings after an initial route branch. The game's route will be based on the player's investigation into one of three true crime cases. The story will of course have branching paths beyond that, especially since there are multiple endings for the same point threshold

Character sprite for the main character and one of the main cast is complete. Obviously, for more important sprites there will be a dedicated new drawing, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Exact descriptions for each of the three cases have been written

All character arcs are written except one

In-Progress:

Coding on the main story portion has started, as well as writing. I currently have a very long way to go.

Minigames are currently under development for each respective case, but the base code is mostly ready for one. The UI interface for the map feature (still under consideration) and the deduction feature are still be ironed out for design.

2 backgrounds are in progress at the current moment

GUI design was made a while ago, but I do not like it. I was thinking about an eye theme but discovered a yandere VN had already used that theme, so it's back to the drawing board.

To-do:

Oh boy where to start

Coding needs: Content before route split, Content of route 1, Content of route 2, the content of route 3 (basically all of it)

Endings still need to be fully written out and have the details ironed out.

The sprites for 10+ characters

The Shop (possible feature)

The time management system needs to be designed and coded

All but 2 of the backgrounds

Inventory system coding (works into GUI)

Suspicion bar

Backlog:

Originally, there were about 5 songs already composed for the story, but unfortunately, I lost the files after a mistake during a file transfer. Progress on this has been back-logged

Goals:

The goal for this month of development will be coding in the minigames and various other things that require the most coding effort. With the outline, I now know the direction of the story and will code appropriately.

==========================================

Sorry for the long silence! My life is kind of crazy right now so the game's development is taking a while. The game is going to be set in a rural town in Utah and will be a bit of genre divergence for me as I'm delving into a murder mystery and cold cases. The MC will hopefully have a more active role. I can't release much in case I regret this idea and scrap it, but the end game will have an MC in a dangerous, bigoted town attempt to solve cold cases that continually occur every ten years. These cold cases will lead to insight into her own dangerous situation and hopefully lead her to not make the mistakes of the past.

There will still be yandere characters, but I hope to portray them as different from my first game.

In this game, I hope to explore themes of loss, the learning of bigotry, grief, found family, cycles of abuse and mourning, and rewriting history for sake of the next generation.

Please be patient with me on this, I hope to make more rapid development in the summer when I have more free time as I am currently a full-time student.

(also i am considering getting a twitter, i need to figure out how to advertise these games lol. if you have any ideas leave it in the notes.)

[amisbro]

If UtaPri had/gets a 5th season...

What would it look like? So this is a question I have thought about for a while because of the fact that I think a lot of people (Myself included) believe there is more of a story to tell in the world of UtaPri.  I think with enough time we could get a very interesting idea for a season and honestly I think WHATEVER this project we got coming up actually IS could be an interesting testing ground for something. Let me explain

So if we think about how Season 4 ended it seemed rather definitive.  Like the way that message was wrote made you believe ,to a degree, that the series had ended as far as an Anime project.  Then we got the end card AFTER that and that kind of made things turn on its head cos no one knew what that was supposed to be until 6th stage happened right? One thing that always stands out to me is the fact that Season 4 was a bit of a mess and I say that in the most objective and neutral way possible because...when you have an Anime that is based on a Manga we typically get a story based around that in some fashion.  It might not be panel for panel and word for word but we get one and that is always fun to see how certain scenes get animated for sure.  When you do an Anime based on an Otome game you almost always do whomever is considered the “true route” or just leave it open ended so people will want to play the games (which is what I think DiaLovers did when it had its run). UtaPri has a very interesting situation because the series DOES have an idol component (and the Anime made sure to really focus on that mostly) but it is also an Otome game so the studio (A-1 Pictures) had that to work off of for the most part.  The problem is that when they were done with the material they DID USE it created a problem because Season 4 was a mess if I am being as objective as possible about it. So here was the problem You had 3 groups in play here STARISH QUARTET NIGHT HEAVENS Forget whom your group was for a second...this was going to be a problem because 2 of the 3 groups had content that was used in the first 3 seasons but Season 4 was going to be a problem.  How this would have been remedied I have no fucking idea!  Like if Broccoli knew they were going to do this season they needed to get something out BEFORE IT so people would have had something to go off of for HEAVENS so we could have had 7 episodes that made sense instead of episodes where it felt like they didn’t know how to have the HEAVENS member that was being featured in it not look like a complete ass!  If we are honest this is what happened and its frustrating to remember One of the biggest issues with the season was that you had a group that HAD been Antags during Season 2.  I said HAD because I genuinely believe that the marching orders for A-1 was to write a season where STARISH was still THE focus but HEAVENS could be rehabbed into a group that was more “likable/marketable” so when the time came to sell CDs and merch that they would fly off the shelves and could be a contender to at least QN if not both them and STARISH.  As we saw during the Oricon charts it was a puzzling time because the duet CDs sold like garbage in the sense that only TWO our the 7 actually charted in the top 10 Ren/Van - Lovely Eyes Syo/Yamato - Justice Impulse This was the most puzzling thing I ever dealt with because I tried to figure out WHY and to this day the best thing I could come up with is the fact that the CD releases were slated to come 10 days after the episode aired which seemed like the dumbest thing to do (IMHO) because when I looked at Season 3 all of the releases charted in the top 10 and a big reason for that was the gap between CD/Episode was only 4 days...well we got to QN and HEAVENS’ CDs they did VERY WELL in Season 4 and its because of how close they released them (I think) to the episodes...funny how that works! What was really weird also was during the “Duet Project” episodes the writers didn’t know WHO to make the focus of the episodes and that was weird BUT ,looking back on it, this whole season was gonna be weird because of how quickly the season was coming in the turnaround vs. its normal time for a season.  Typically a UtaPri season gets a 2 year window and this time they were going under that...about a year and 4 months so this was going to cause a crunch and also a mess of a message as to what the writers wanted to do!  I personally believe that the writers wanted to make HEAVENS all the more sympathetic and they were able to get SOME of the backstories in that they could for certain characters but a few others (Nagi and Eiichi for example) “kind of” tried to show you the “why they were acting the way they were” but it felt (at least Internationally) that the episodes didn’t register or if they did not as well as they hoped.  I do wonder if a big reason that the content is as out of sorts in terms of balance for HEAVENS vs. the other two groups is because of how jacked up that season got.  I genuinely wish I could sit down and discuss that season with someone that was in the room when they were given the orders on how that season was supposed to go vs. what actually happened after the fact! So this brings me back to the “What would a 5th Season look like if we got/get one in the future?” The weird thing is I think A-1 already knows but they have to get the reference materials FIRST before they start writing it.  I genuinely think they saw/heard about what happened Internationally when it came to the “NEXT DOOR” saga and they didn’t want to see that happen again so NOW they want to work on these projects to get the idea other there right now that all the groups are separated as first we have STARISH and then no doubt QN but the big question of course is HEAVENS...can they do a concert with them at some point with hopefully more songs under their belt OR will Broccoli start to really consider them a lost cause and that the fandom just doesn’t want them.  You can only go with the “Round peg/Square Hole” philosophy so much before people get mad and don’t want to deal with the series (or at the very least HEAVENS) anymore. The other big issue is HEAVENS’ role in Dolce Vita because, As of this writing, we still don’t know ANYTHING about that game...like we don’t know if its a straight up VN or is there going to be something similar to the original La Corda back in the day which ,fun fact time, had Kishou and Mamo in it.  Like if anyone would know how a game like that worked it would be them (And they ARE in the new game “Starlight Orchestra” btw) so they HAVE to have had given some input about how the mechanics worked and all that...right?! (Oh and unrelated but Kishou’s original character in Len Tsukimori is a special character in that game.  He was unlocked through a campaign we had in that fandom a bit ago) So again...what would Season 5 look like? Well my guess is that it would have to be a STARISH/HEAVENS season again but with new duets unlike last time.  The other possibility (And I think they were teasing this at the end of Season 4) is that it would somehow be a HEAVENS/QN season which could be interesting especially if they did something like how Season 2 was probably supposed to go...and in a way didn’t because of how the story worked. The thing is its been almost 5 years since we had a proper season...FIVE! Let’s assume that the “Anime Project” as we know it is over alright?  STARISH and QN’s brand is already established so what do you use to help HEAVENS’ get on the same level?  That’s a big reason why I don’t think they could/should end the “Anime Proper” because to do that you literally would be cutting off a way to properly market a group that actually needs it vs. the groups that clearly don’t.  I won’t go so far as to say that the STARISH/QN Animated concerts are going to be “Vanity Projects” because they aren’t.  They are clearly something that Broccoli believed in as far as a project to do for the series BUT I will say that having 7th Stage so close to this project is a bit...weird?! Like okay to be fair this probably was planned well in advance and the Pandemic fucked everything up because it was supposed to be announced at 7th stage in 2020...okay cool fine but let’s say it was right?  What stopped them from revealing it at 10th Anniversary when it would have been a bigger “Holy Shit” moment?  What was really so important that they had to do EVERYTHING ELSE and not that?  Just seemed weird to me. But anyways HOLY SHIT did we go around the block here...I need to stop If you were going to script out a proper 5th season when would you do it and how?  The thing to remember is we have a 3 group scenario and now HEAVENS is trying to become an even better group to finally beat STARISH and QN so do you have QN and HEAVENS do a thing together or do you do a 3 cour season where each is dedicated to a particular group? Love to hear your answers on this and take care

[opalosprey]

Higurashi/Umineko Thoughts Pt. 1: Onikakushi

I read through both Higurashi and Umineko over the past few months, and I wanted to write about my thoughts on both of them; things that I enjoyed, things I didn’t enjoy, and things one did better than the other. Originally I was going to just have everything in one big post, but as I was writing, it became apparent that I’m probably going to need to do separate posts for each chapter (or maybe 2 chapters per post for some?). This is the first time I’ve really done anything like this, so it might be a bit all over the place. Don’t expect anything too insightful, lol. Hopefully I’ll be able to improve and better articulate my thoughts as I go through each chapter.

I used the 07th Expansion mod for both Higurashi and Umineko, so I had the PS3 sprites and voice acting, which I felt definitely enhanced the experience (don’t settle for the awful steam version sprites). Major spoilers for both stories will be included in these posts, so don’t read them if you ever plan on reading/watching either story and haven’t done so yet. I definitely recommend reading the VNs, even if you’ve watched the anime adaptations already.

As a disclaimer, I did watch the anime adaptations of both Higurashi and Umineko about a decade ago, back when I was in early high school (that sucks to type out). As a result, I knew about a decent number of the twists that happen in Higurashi and a couple in the first half of Umineko. The main things I remembered were that the timeline resets after things go badly for everyone, Rika and Hanyuu remember what happened, and Takano is the Big Bad at the end. While this seems like it would kind of ruin the experience, the fact is that I thoroughly enjoyed my read through Higurashi. I knew a lot of the twists, but I forgot nearly all the context surrounding those twists, along with the specific stories that happen within each chapter, and the very important details of what was actually causing all of these tragedies. I knew Takano was the main antagonist, but forgot how and why she did what she did, along with not remembering the existence of Hinamizawa Syndrome. As for Umineko, my remembered knowledge was significantly less, and barely affected how I felt about the story as I read it.

Now that all the disclaimer stuff is out of the way, on to my thoughts for:

-Onikakushi-

Onikakushi is probably my favorite chapter out of both Higurashi and Umineko. Part of this might stem from the nostalgia of having watched the anime back in high school, but I think the biggest reason is that this chapter is the most horror-aligned of the Higurashi chapters. While other chapters have some horrific things happen in them, this one has some scenes that still give me the chills, even on repeat readings. The lighthearted first half of the chapter might seem a bit long to some, but I think it’s an important section of the story that really endeared me to the main cast (again, nostalgia might have helped). Plus, the smattering of hints at the darker side of Hinamizawa that I didn’t remember really hooked me in. 

This is one area I feel Higurashi did a better job than Umineko. Both stories start out with a lighthearted, exposition heavy introduction in their first chapter, but I felt like Higurashi did a much better job of getting me attached to the characters and the setting than Umineko did. Umineko did have the disadvantage of having 18 characters to introduce in the first chapter, but even by then end of Umineko there were still characters I was less attached to than any of the characters in Higurashi after reading Onikakushi alone. The scene at the Watanagashi festival where everyone writes messages on Tomitake’s shirt for his punishment game was so heartwarming to me that I teared up while I was reading it. Hinamizawa as a setting also has the benefit of being a place that can feel both warm and friendly, but also isolated and creepy when things start to go south. It’s the type of place where you really could expect to run into some sort of supernatural entity, and you’d have very limited ways of calling for help if it wanted to harm you (especially since the story takes place in 1983, so people having cell phones wasn’t really a thing yet).

When it comes to the parts I enjoyed the most in Onikakushi, the scene with Rena at the door to Keiichi’s house is definitely iconic, but I think my favorite parts are the “chase” scene where Keiichi is running away from Rena and ends up wandering into the forest, and the phone booth scene at the very end of the chapter. Despite knowing the entire story and how Rena wasn’t actually trying to kill Keiichi, these two scenes still creep me out even now. During the “chase” scene, Rena’s voice actress’ delivery of the line “It’s not about believing or not… Oyashiro-sama ‘exists’, period.”, mixed with the close-up of her face and the background suddenly turning dark red, really hits all the right notes for me. Similarly, Keiichi’s voice actor gurgling and choking out his lines about something following him and that he believes in the curse now during the phone booth scene, combined with being placed in Ooishi’s perspective, also sends a chill up my spine whenever I hear it. Other highlights for me included the aforementioned scene with everyone writing on Tomitake’s shirt and the scene where Takano and Tomitake first tell Keiichi about the Curse of Oyashiro-sama.

Onikakushi isn’t without flaws though, and there are two that stick out most to me. The first is something that pops up a few times throughout the first couple chapters, that being the perverted conversations and situations that sometimes happen. For Onikakushi, it’s mostly limited to Mion’s comments about Keiichi that were censored in the PS3 version, along with the club activity punishment games that happen right before the Watanagashi festival (which I would have disliked much more if Keiichi had been the one to put those punishments in the drawing). It’s nothing too awful, but I don’t like perverted things, so it did bug me a bit. 

The second issue I had with Onikakushi in particular was, ironically, something that happened during one of my favorite scenes. During the “chase” scene, shortly after Rena delivers her line about Oyashiro-sama's existence, Keiichi has a flashback to the conversation he had with Ooishi the previous night on the phone. I wouldn’t mind an abbreviated flashback to highlight a specific important thing Ooishi said, but instead, the flashback plays the entire conversation out, and lasts for nearly 15 minutes. It really sucked the intensity out of the scene, and I feel like that particular section would be greatly improved by cutting out most or all of the flashback. This is probably one of the worst instances of a problem that happens throughout Higurashi, and why I feel that Umineko has a higher quality of writing overall (though I much prefer Higurashi’s story). There are a lot of times in Higurashi where characters will repeat themselves multiple times or talk themselves in circles, usually when someone is trying to think through something. To be fair, I’m guilty of doing that myself when I’m trying to think through something in my head, but it does lead to times where the writing feels a little repetitive, or in this case, breaks the flow of a scene.

All in all, despite it’s flaws, Onikakushi hits the sweet spot for me of being endearing, intriguing, mysterious, and creepy all at the same time. It has the type of horror I enjoy most, that being something that you can’t really tell if the cause it supernatural or not. I’m fine with a human or supernatural explanation to a horror story, but the uncertainty of which one is the truth really helps to pique my interest and keep me hooked. Umineko plays with this idea too in its own way, but I’ll get to that when I talk about Legend of the Golden Witch probably.