Neutral Drow reviews: Heart de Roommate

NeutralDrow

New member
Mar 23, 2009
9,097
0
0
[img_inline align="center" caption="...there's a catch here, right?"]http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/1766/58331580682front.jpg[/img_inline]​

"Times it's hard and I can't fake it, when she lets me see her naked
My roommate's a girl, she puts me through hell
When I tripped on love, she never fell..."


- Anything But Joey (please)
______________________________________________________________

Meet Yusuke Sawada, incoming high school senior and doormat extraordinaire. As if it wasn't bad enough that his idiot parents transferred him out of Tokyo to some school out in the boonies, they forgot to register him for a dorm room, and wouldn't you know it, the boys' dormitory is full up. And the truck transporting his luggage breaks down, forcing him to hike a couple of miles carrying all his worldly possessions. And the apartment he's directed to for temporary shelter burns down. And just when he's about to give up entirely and sleep where he falls, he runs into his boisterous childhood bully, Asumi Hirota. Or rather, she runs into him. Footfirst.

However, upon recognizing Yusuke, she panics. Believing that he remembers something embarrassing from their past about her (to his confusion), she immediately assumes he'll try to blackmail her (to his further confusion) and asks what he wants in return. Figuring that freak chance was better than none, he asks her to find him a place to stay the night, and finally falls unconscious from exhaustion, apathy, and blunt trauma.

Her solution? Sneak him into her dorm room and throw him in the closet. Given his situation, Yusuke accepts this mildly humiliating new living space in stride...but naturally, there's a catch. Boys aren't allowed even near the girls' dorm, so not only does Yusuke have to hide his presence in Asumi's room, but he has to disguise himself as a girl when going to and from school. As well, Asumi really gave him the space under (imagined) duress, and her two roommates aren't especially thrilled that he's there, either. Yusuke's got an uphill battle to fight before they accept him...
________________________________________________________________
<color=white>Line break.

Heart de Roommate

It's said that if you expect the worst, any surprise will be a pleasant one, and I'd certainly say that saying applies here. I originally bought this game because the premise sounded kind of cute, and I thought I'd heard decent things about the title (turns out I was mixing it up with To Heart, but anyway). However, given the one-two punch of <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.130703>the absolute worst and <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.135672>the absolute best high school-themed VNs I've ever played, I wasn't really looking forward to the chance of mediocrity.

Hence the pleasant surprise, since this turned out better than I was expecting. But enough of that, let's get started.

<color=white>Line break.
Gameplay

This is a visual novel. You read, and are occasionally presented with choices. Said choices influence your relationships with other characters and change the direction of the story...sort of. One of the more off-putting aspects of this game is how little most of your choices seem to matter in the beginning. Ultimately, there are only three choices that change what subsequently happens in the game. Regardless of choice, Namiki will catch you and find out you're not really a girl, you will end up searching for Asumi's missing hair ornament, or help Tomoe put away books in the library (and have a ladder accident), or fall off of the roof while approaching Marumu, etc. The point? The first half of the game - the first "season," if you will - doesn't really change, which hurts the replay value a tiny bit (you may as well fast-forward past most of it on subsequent playthroughs).

Only two of those kisses are accidental.

Halfway through: the single most important choice in the game.

All those choices aren't entirely useless, however. While they don't directly affect the storyline, they do garner relationship points, which are required to unlock the second "season" of the game. I didn't know this at first, so for the purpose of this review, I went back to test it. Turns out, yes, if you act like an anti-social dork, that choice up there won't matter a whit, because the girls won't accept you. I tested this process with Tomoe, and as a result, I feel like scum. All because of you, the readers.

I hate you all.

On the other hand, the second half of the game has precisely two choices. Once you're set on a certain path, the game essentially lets the story take over completely...unless, of course, you screw up either of those choices, both of which can lead to instant, rather unnerving game overs. And the choices aren't really that obvious...

<color=white>Line break.
Story

First, a note on the term "harem," which can have two meanings applied to a story like this. On the one hand, it's roughly speaking a show where the protagonist has multiple, often competing love interests. Most often, this is a man with multiple female love interests (Tenchi Muyo, Ranma 1/2, and the like), but there are series where the genders are reversed (Ouran High School Host Club and Fushigi Yuugi come to mind), and even with same-gender harems (like Kyou Kara Maou). This use of the term certainly can apply to visual novels...but such a setting is so ubiquitous to the genre (off the top of my head, I can think of two with only one love interest), it's essentially meaningless. Most often, when the term "harem" is applied to a VN, it's in the context of a "harem ending," where the protagonist ends up with more than one love interest (there happens to be none of that in this game).

Take out Negi, and you have one of my few ships.

God, I love Nodoka. And not just because she could out-pervert the entire class if she wanted to...

I bring this up because this game is actually worth mentioning as the former. Its unique feature is that it literally takes the form of a 26-episode harem-style anime, including commercial breaks (no commercials, just the episode-specific "break" image) and episode previews. As a style, this worked pretty well for me, though I can see how it could be a bit distracting and flowbreaking to others. Like a lot of semi-episodic shows, the individual stories can be hit-or-miss. I, for example, found the two-part story of Toshibo the cat winding up with a litter of kittens to be...cute, but ultimately just a distraction. On the other hand, an episode with a cheesy story by Asumi about her friends and her saving the earth from an asteroid using the power of friendship (complete with a shift to crayon art) was absolutely hilarious. Typical high school slice-of-life comedy, basically.

The trials and tribulations of the first season (13 episodes) make for a bit of a slow start, given over as it is to character introductions and sessions of "how can we hurt Yusuke this time?" I was, in fact, sort of reminded of Love Hina, which isn't really a favorable comparison. In light of this, it's probably not that bad that you don't have to play through the first ten episodes more than once; most of the choices aren't hard to make, and since very few are at the expense of any love interest, you can almost save the game at episode 11 and reload there after finishing a route.

However, the story starts to come into its own near the end of the first season. By this point, Yusuke has been fully integrated into the cast, characters have been developed enough to be interesting but still hint at greater depth, the actual love story starts, which also causes the story to branch out based on who Yusuke falls in love with. While the story base is fairly constant, the details can vary widely. As a small example, Episode 19 always involves Yusuke becoming curious about how Asumi, Tomoe, and Marumu first met and asking his girlfriend about it...meaning he can get three very different versions of the same story.

Marutan!  Warrior...of JUSTICE!

Marumu's version. The least accurate, but the most entertaining.

<color=white>Line Break.
Characters

The protagonist, Yusuke, jumps between forgettable and compelling every so often, leaving an oddly mixed impression. I think it's because, outside of his situation, he really lacks personality. It's hard to nail down exactly what he's like when you don't consider that he's rooming in secret with three girls who are initially wary of him. Still, his reactions and character growth are written well enough that he ultimately doesn't come off as a shallow character. His changing relationships with the girls and his acceptance of his situation, his confusion as to what a love relationship entails and even his occasional doubts about his own masculinity and assertiveness, really serve to highlight his progression from hapless boy to mature adult.

Well, if you had to cross-dress every day just to leave home...

*punch*

It's the game's heroines, however, who carry the game. This is all the more remarkable since they start off as clear stock characters: Asumi is the hyperactive, controlling, violent tsundere, Tomoe is the shy, non-confrontational type, and Marumu is the hard-to-pin-down emotionless girl. Not the most auspicious of beginnings, especially for Asumi. Needless to say, though, I found the first impressions were misleading, and not only are each of these girls more developed, but their individual routes are nicely varied. All have in common the theme of uncertainty in a first relationship, but where Asumi's path sticks with a fairly standard romance, Marumu's path goes a good deal into questions of compatibility and mutual discovery, and Tomoe's path surprised me by ultimately dealing with the transience of high school love after leaving school...and how such love might be rekindled.

Asumi deserves the most mention, though. I despised her in the beginning for being domineering and occasionally violent. Learning Tomoe's version of the roommates' first meeting didn't help this, and Asumi's weird obsession with drawing introverted, recalcitrant transfer student Hikaru out of her shell (a major subplot of season 2), even at the expense of her current friendships, was similarly bizarre. This started to change after I got Tomoe's ending, and then Marumu's ending, and then played Asumi's route.

Then comes the epilogue, Asumi's actual ending, when everything (everything) about her suddenly makes sense. That's...all I'll say about that.

Just to clarify, she does stop doing stuff like this.

This is still painful to watch, but in an entirely different way.

With a couple of exceptions, the supporting cast doesn't really leave much of an impression. Those exceptions (both of whom wind up discovering Yusuke's secret) are Ms. Yagami, the four's homeroom teacher, and Namiki, Yusuke's cousin who transfers to Aiho school to keep an eye on him. They do play roles in the main story; Ms. Yagami is a friendly source of advice who loves helping her students, and Namiki tends to butt heads with Asumi over issues of control, "advise" Yusuke on uncomfortable matters, and hit on and grope Tomoe (yes, being bisexual is part of her character). Oddly enough, they're also secondary love interests; if Yusuke still doesn't know his own feelings by episode 13, the game will end prematurely, but this can unlock side stories about these two (in the context of this game, I suppose they'd be OVAs). Namiki's route, unfortunately, felt rather unsatisfying; there's not a whole lot of development, and the ending stating they eventually get used to being lovers once out of high school felt more like a cop out than anything (though it did stop me from screaming "Westermarck! Where are you?!" over and over in my head). Ms. Yagami's route, on the other hand, worked pretty well as a touching story on a forbidden relationship.

Hikaru is a bit of a special case, as she's introduced in the second season and drives a major part of the plot forward...but I can't really think of a way to describe her without spoilers (other than to say her subplot had great buildup, but with a sort of anticlimactic solution...unless you're playing Asumi's route, of course).

Oh, and there's the ***** trio, the game's minor antagonists. They're more obstacles than evildoers, though.

On the other hand, their theme music, Duel in the Street, is quite fun.

This is about as mean as they get. The one on the left is even pretty friendly, at times.

<color=white>Line Break.
Technical

Nothing really major to complain about here. The artwork is really good; the CGs are a joy to view, the backgrounds are incredibly detailed, and this game has the best-drawn character sprites I've seen in a VN so far. It even manages to pull off <url=http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/8755/hdr7.jpg>chibi artwork (including one of the only times I've ever seen dramatic chibi), and even uses pencil, marker, and crayon art as mood setters (typically as flashbacks or stories).

I was actually surprised how much I liked the soundtrack, too. The only piece of music in the game that left me underwhelmed was the opening theme (which is also the only voiced track). All the other BGM served its purpose well, and other than the fact that most of the music is clearly keyboard and synth (which doesn't harm any of it, though), this could honestly pass for a great anime soundtrack. Of particular note to me are the slower themes, like "Vague Memory [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xLt2H1ysk8&feature=related]," "Everything I Want to Tell You [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4SMvS2CC3M&feature=related]," and "The Time We Spent Together [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GV1kgvtddk&feature=related]", that last of which I absolutely love; it really feels like a conclusion to a story that's passed into happy memory. In fact, my biggest complaint is that we don't get enough sustained music. Maybe it was just the fact that I read quickly and didn't always wait for the voiceovers, but the music quite often felt like it would shift every time someone spoke two sentences (so that I would only hear 15 seconds of any given piece at a time). Hell, I was 3/4 of the way through the game before I found out that, unusually for a VN, the music tracks don't loop!

The voice acting is...nothing too special. There's nothing wrong with any of it, and it's occasionally nice to listen to, it just didn't leave much of an impression. 'Cept maybe Marumu, but I think that's mainly because I wound up liking her a lot overall, and that included her deadpan girl-of-few-words delivery (even after finding out why she talks like that).

She's also got mood ring hair ornaments.

An unusually verbose moment.

<color=white>Line Break.
Ero

The sex in this game was a mixed bag, overall, but I was surprised at how tenderly the scenes are depicted. With the main three, at least, the focus usually feels much more on the emotional than the physical aspect. This is especially obvious (and best done, in my opinion) with Marumu; she and Yusuke clearly aren't sure how they should progress their relationship physically, and watching them work it out (Marumu in her apparent dispassion, Yusuke in his awkwardness) was rather touching. In fact, strangely for an H-game, the two of them don't go beyond second and third base until the "farewell sex" half scenes in each girl's route in between graduation and the "one year later" episode. Asumi...well, I ignore her first scene, since we find out what that secret is that she thought Yusuke was blackmailing her over (it's mildly disgusting), but her second scene was more than sweet enough to make up for it. And Tomoe, well...okay, so Tomoe's scenes don't really fit this mold, except maybe to show that she's a lot bolder than she lets on.

As for the secondary routes, Namiki's scene was alternately all right and uncomfortable (half of it is her mocking Yusuke's awkwardness, and the other half is...Yusuke's awkwardness), not doing much for the story at all. Ms. Yagami's scene read like slightly higher quality but still run-of-the-mill hentai doujin work, and was the only problem I had with the story. The artwork is decent enough, but I couldn't shake the feeling that both could have been written much better.

Oh, and there is another sex scene (complete with CG) in the game besides these ones...but it's short, disturbing, and happens to be a game over. Here's a hint: sex isn't always a good idea, even in desperate situations.

In any case, if these are a problem, the game has a fast-forward button.


<color=white>Line Break.
Verdict

I was very pleasantly surprised with this game. The overall story is excellent, the episodic stories are at least entertaining, the romance is well done, the characters are much deeper than I would have thought, and the production quality is very high. The game's tone also varies well, encompassing lightheartedness, with darker moods later on, happy endings...and a beautifully bittersweet epilogue.

Of course, I doubt this game would hold the attention of anyone with no existing interest in visual novels or shoujo anime, but for those who have that, I can honestly say Heart de Roommate might be worth a look.
__________________________________________________________

...wow, that went a lot longer than I expected. At least the character section did.

Next Review

Neutral Drow Gets a Better Editor

Neutral Drow reviews: Hourglass of Summer

That is, unless I get to Melty Blood first...

____________________

TYPE-MOON reviews:
___________________

<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.128851-TYPE-MOON-reviews-Tsukihime>Tsukihime
--- <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.142352-TYPE-MOON-reviews-Shingetsutan-Tsukihime-anime>Shingetsutan Tsukihime (anime)
--- <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.145022-TYPE-MOON-reviews-Lunar-Legend-Tsukihime-manga>Lunar Legend Tsukihime (manga)
- <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.139628-TYPE-MOON-reviews-Kagetsu-Tohya>Kagetsu Tohya
- <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.230960-TYPE-MOON-Reviews-Melty-Blood>Melty Blood
--- Re-Act/Act Cadenza
--- Actress Again

<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.223721-TYPE-MOON-Review-anniversary-Fate-Stay-Night>Fate/Stay Night
--- Fate/Stay Night (anime)
----- Unlimited Blade Works
--- Fate/Stay Night (manga)
- Fate/Unlimited Codes
- Fate/Zero

<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.304952-TYPE-MOON-Review-Anniversary-Kara-no-Kyoukai>Kara no Kyokai

Speculative: Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, Fate/Extra, Notes, DDD.

___________________________________

Neutral Drow reviews:
___________________________________

<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.130703-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Xchange>Xchange
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.135672-Neutral-Drow-reviews-A-Drug-That-Makes-You-Dream>A Drug That Makes You Dream
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.146260-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Heart-de-Roommate>Heart de Roommate
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.163769-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Kanon>Kanon
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.148564-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Little-My-Maid>Little My Maid
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.206764-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Kana-Little-Sister>Kana: Little Sister
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.252998-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Princess-Waltz>Princess Waltz
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.237875-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Crescendo>Crescendo
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.308335-Neutral-Drow-reviews-Symphonic-Rain>Symphonic Rain
Hourglass of Summer
Tokimeki Check-in
Casual Romance Club
True Love
Clannad
Family Project
Snow Sakura
The Sagara Family
Snow Drop
Brave Soul
Doushin - Same Heart
Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo
Da Capo
Da Capo II
Kira Kira
Yo-Jin-Bo
Sekien no Inganock
Wanko to Kuroso
My Girlfriend is the President
Sharin no Kuni
Cross Channel
Wind: A Breath of Heart
Brass Restoration
Ever17
Remember11
Ori Ochi Onoe
Shuffle
One
G-Senjou no Maou
Gadget Trail
Swan Song
Eien no Aselia
Phantom of Inferno
Kikokugai
River Trap
Autumn
Sengoku Rance
Daibanchou
ef
Neko Kawaigari
Adam: The Double Factor
Edelweiss
AoiShiro


Speculative: Air, Galaxy Angel, Yu-No, Sumaga, Suika, Shimai Donburi, 11eyes, Ashita no Kimi to Au Tami ni

___________________________________

Kinetic reviews:
___________________________________

Narcissu
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Umineko no Naku Koro ni
True Remembrance
Leaves
The Dandelion Girl
Tokoyo no Hoshizora

___________________________________

Off-Topic reviews:
___________________________________

<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.151706-Lightning-Warrior-Raidy-a-Lordlee-and-Neutral-Drow-review>Lightning Warrior Raidy (collab. w/Lordlee)
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.158447-Off-Topic-Reviews-Devil-May-Cry-series>Devil May Cry series
- Devil May Cry 4 addendum
- DMC addendum
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.178061-Off-Topic-Reviews-Soulbringer>Soulbringer
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.194259-Off-Topic-Reviews-Ragnarok>Ragnarok
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.272426-Off-Topic-Reviews-Suguri>Suguri
<url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.385549-Off-Topic-Reviews-Ristar>Ristar
????
????
 

Katherine Kerensky

Why, or Why Not?
Mar 27, 2009
7,744
0
0
Wow, yet again making me wish I knew how to get some of the damn things.
It... has kittens in it? :D Kittens... hehehehe...
Thanks for the good review.
and have you done any ultra-gory ones? I heard there is a Higurashi one... but I'm not sure if it exists or if you reviewed it...
 

Canton

New member
Jan 30, 2009
60
0
0
This is an incredibly detailed review(and incredibly long; might want to find some balance between the two). Very informative overall.

I believe you took Tomoe and Marumu's routes before Asumi's as well? Good choice. I think this is the optimum sequence of routes to take as it maximizes the impact of the endings for all three routes.
 

NeutralDrow

New member
Mar 23, 2009
9,097
0
0
Glefistus said:
sex in this game
WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH. Woah. I think you are now officially banned from Australia for playing this game.

...by the way, where did you get it? Just curious, of course.
My chance of dying by drop bear attack has suddenly lowered 75%!

I got this at the J-List booth at SD Comic Con. It's available online at the (really creepy) Jlist website and the (marginally less creepy) G-Collections site, and there are a few copies on Amazon.

dekuben said:
Neutral Drow has website we can read these reviews?
They are brilliant <3
Nope, they're just here on the Escapist so far. I haven't been writing these all that long.

Greyfox105 said:
and have you done any ultra-gory ones? I heard there is a Higurashi one... but I'm not sure if it exists or if you reviewed it...
Higurashi was originally a VN before the anime/manga adaptations. I haven't played it, personally, though it seems interesting.

And no. I've played games with implied amounts of gore, mostly in the TYPE-MOON games (hell, Arcueid's introduction in Tsukihime is <url=http://www.mangafox.com/manga/shingetsutan_tsukihime/v01/c001/48.html>getting sliced into 17 pieces). I don't really go for the gory horror stuff all that much; heck, even reading Saya no Uta's Wikipedia description made my flesh crawl.

Canton said:
This is an incredibly detailed review(and incredibly long; might want to find some balance between the two). Very informative overall.

I believe you took Tomoe and Marumu's routes before Asumi's as well? Good choice. I think this is the optimum sequence of routes to take as it maximizes the impact of the endings for all three routes.
I was worried about that. Believe it or not, it was even longer at one point, before I noticed how bored I was getting proofreading it... ^^;

And yes, that worked out really well. I stumbled onto that configuration, mostly because I couldn't stand Asumi in the beginning!
 

scotth266

Wait when did I get a sub
Jan 10, 2009
5,202
0
0
NeutralDrow said:
Oh, and there is another sex scene (complete with CG) in the game besides these ones...but it's short, disturbing, and happens to be a game over. Here's a hint: sex isn't always a good idea, even in desperate situations.
Huh... normally sex would be the last thing on my mind in a desperate situation.

Anyway, yet another thing I'm gonna have to get... at this rate I really need to learn how to use Amazon already.

I presume that by "seasons" you mean that the game is split into several arcs?
 

bradley348

New member
Apr 17, 2009
212
0
0
Glefistus said:
sex in this game
WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH. Woah. I think you are now officially banned form Australia for playing this game.

...by the way, where did you get it? Just curious, of course.
meh, i hear that if atkinson (or whatev his name is, the bastard) had his way, PG rated games and above would be banned. This would be followed up by banning every game developer from even making games, and the only games would be called "michael atkinson's trip to the grocery" "Michael atkinson's trip to the grocery 2: oranges out of stock" "Michael atkinson goes to the movies to see barbie pony adventure 42" "Michael atkinson's gardening simulator" "Michael atkinson plays with lego"
 

NeutralDrow

New member
Mar 23, 2009
9,097
0
0
scotth266 said:
NeutralDrow said:
Oh, and there is another sex scene (complete with CG) in the game besides these ones...but it's short, disturbing, and happens to be a game over. Here's a hint: sex isn't always a good idea, even in desperate situations.
Huh... normally sex would be the last thing on my mind in a desperate situation.
With this particular desperate situation, sex is actually at the forefront.

When Hikaru tries to coerce you into having sex with her, and threatens to jump off the roof if you don't agree.


I presume that by "seasons" you mean that the game is split into several arcs?
Sort of. I mean the game is divided into 26 <url=http://ui10.gamefaqs.com/1097/gfs_80682_2_1.jpg>episodes, in <url=http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/5255/hdr8.jpg>13 episode seasons (and three OVAs).
 

Silver Scribbler

New member
Aug 5, 2009
435
0
0
Yet again another very stylish and entertaining review.

As someone with absolutely no knowledge/experience of this genre, (but some genuine interest, sparked by one of your reviews a while ago), I was wondering if you could suggest a decent visual novel to start me off? The idea of interactive storytelling really appeals to me, but the prospect of choosing one to start with is rather daunting.
 

NeutralDrow

New member
Mar 23, 2009
9,097
0
0
silver scribbler said:
Yet again another very stylish and entertaining review.

As someone with absolutely no knowledge/experience of this genre, (but some genuine interest, sparked by one of your reviews a while ago), I was wondering if you could suggest a decent visual novel to start me off? The idea of interactive storytelling really appeals to me, but the prospect of choosing one to start with is rather daunting.
Lordlee actually got my first recommendation, which would be Tsukihime. Fate/Stay Night (TYPE-MOON's other well-known work) would also work, but thinking on it, I actually recommend Tsukihime first. It's easier to find and install, is a good introduction to Kinoko Nasu's writing, and is still my favorite game of all time (beating FSN with well-deserved nostalgia factor). There's a good torrent that has the Tsukibako that I can recommend, but that will have to be through PM.

On the other hand...depending on what exact sort of story you like, I also very strongly recommend <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.135672>Yume Miru Kusuri. Even though they're the most common setting for visual novels of this sort, my own experience with high school-set VNs is still limited (though I'm set to correct that). Even so, that one was wonderful. It also has the advantage of having been officially translated and available to buy in English.

So, either of those are my primary recommendations. Tsukihime or A Drug That Makes You Dream. The first one is more expansive (and arguably more "interactive"), the second is more emotional and realistic, both are extremely well-written.

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain!

lordlee said:
Interesting. Well that said as far as VN's go my next acquisition will probably be either Saya no Uta or Umineko. I WAS going to get Higurashi as an actual purchase, but apparently Manga Gamer is twiddling their thumbs on that front.
I can't even think about Saya no Uta without a vague sense of unease and nausea. Oh and...has Higurashi actually been released in English? Or has someone maybe done a patch for it (and/or Kai)? I know someone on the internet released a full Kanon translation a couple months ago...

Either THAT or I'll get Sengoku Rance or Thunder Warrior Raidy. They're more RPGs than Visual Novels, but as all information suggests they put more effort into the porn than the plot I figure the gameplay will keep me from getting bored/disgusted/hey maybe it'll surprise me.
Haven't heard of those, but nothing wrong with porn you have to work for, as long as the game is fun. For stuff outside flash games, though, I think I prefer the plot-heavy ones.

Or Hollow Atarxia's patch will be finished, in which case we'll have more to worry about, what with the death of the sun and the descent of the starborn ones.
I would welcome the death of Gaia and the arrival of the Aristoteles if it would mean Type-Venus living in my house.

...though on a whole, I think I'd be more excited about Fate/Hollow.

I suppose the purpose of all that off-topic rambling is this: would you mind if I did some VN reviews as well Drow? You can't keep the Escapist fed on your own.
I would welcome more reviews. I'm not getting everything, after all, and more exposure of the things I have done would still be welcome!
 

NeutralDrow

New member
Mar 23, 2009
9,097
0
0
lordlee said:
Angel Notes jokes
Oh you read it? I considered making that joke but thought you wouldn't because a strange number of TM fans haven't read it, even ones who've played the games. Which is odd because it is by FAR the easiest TM work to get, and is only three or so pages long.
Well...much as it shames me to admit it, I actually haven't. All I know is what I found on the Type-Moon wiki while looking for images of the Types for someone on GameFAQS. I really should.

As for what's next:
Saya: I'm not big into horror, but it's well known to be short and it does at least sound interesting. I doubt I'll ever like a horror work as much as Eternal Darkness though. Tsukihime I consider a romance first and foremost.
And I can agree with that description.

...I also have yet to make myself play Eternal Darkness, too, but that's beside the point.

Sengoku Rance: This is what Takajun (Mirror Moon's translator) is almost finished (like 95%) doing. It's an SRPG, which is my favorite genre, so we'll see. I'd rather do Utawemruomono or whatever it's called, but when once I tried to get it, I encountered a script error that apparently had to do with the Japanese script in the programming.

Thunder Warrior Raidy: Remember those old first person dungeon crawlers? It's those with (mostly) yuri porn and all the monsters are girls in various state of undress and cosplay. Apparently attempting it without the gamefaqs guide is like asking to get lost. Mostly it's an excuse for me to try one of those said old first person crawlers, the porn's just what made me pick this one. Reviews are mixed, I guess I'll see.
Utawarerumono? I keep hearing that name, and I know Mirror Moon translated it, but I know pretty much nothing about it (other than Hakuoro apparently being an <url=http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/9332/enemiesofallmankind.jpg>Enemy of All Mankind).

And actually, that Thunder Warrior thing sounds interesting. I was raised on the old Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance Gold Box CRPGS, so I'm nostalgically inclined towards first-person dungeon crawlers...