Karifean's Blog of Visual Novels

Just a few hours ago I just finished Muv-Luv Alternative which means I'm through my Must-Read List of visual novels. It was a great three months. This doesn't mean I'll stop reading visual novels or updating this blog, but it is quite a milestone for me personally. I finally feel like, knowing the 'big boys' of this medium, I have enough context to compare and judge them at least somewhat fairly.

This is the list of visual novels I've finished this year, in the order I read them in: ...

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Video Games , Internet , Miscellaneous

(Slight NSFW imagery primarily in the first 15 seconds)


I don't know whether to love or hate it. On the one hand it makes me totally hyped up to keep reading and the song is quite catchy. It reminds me of Neon Genesis Evangelion's opening in a way.

On the other hand THOSE smurfING SUITS. That kind of immersion-breaking fanservice was one of my biggest complaints with Muv-Luv Unlimited and to have them show up in the Alternative OP does not exactly make ...

Tags: impressions, muv-luv, visual novel

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Video Games , Internet , Miscellaneous

Muv-Luv is a visual novel created by âge. It is the precursor to one of the most popular visual novels of all time, so to be as unbiased as possible I'm going to write this review before moving on to its successor.

Overview

Takeru Shirogane is a typical highschool student who doesn't get very good grades and likes spending most of his free time either hanging out with his childhood friend Sumika Kagami, or playing ...

Updated 03-23-2015 at 10:56 PM by Karifean

Tags: muv-luv, review, visual novel

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Video Games , Internet , Miscellaneous

Having just finished "Muv-Luv Extra", which believe it or not is the first entry in the Muv-Luv series, I thought I might as well speak my thoughts on it a bit.

I'll preface this by saying that I do not regret having spent my time reading through it. But it certainly has problems, and you won't see me recommend Muv-Luv Extra (on its own) to anyone else, probably ever. So... what's so bad about it?

To ...

Updated 03-15-2015 at 10:27 PM by Karifean

Tags: impressions, muv-luv, visual novel

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Video Games , Internet , Miscellaneous

For a change of pace I thought I'd write more of a reflection rather than a full-on review for this novel. I'll go through the story routes in the order I went through them. Expect spoilers for the routes in question.

Regular End

First time through I didn't focus on any guy in particular, and so I ended up not getting enough 'romance' on anyone to enter their route. And so I ended up with the regular end...

Damn this game turns dark fast. Basically during a ...

Tags: hakuouki, impressions, reflection, visual novel

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Video Games , Internet , Miscellaneous

Finally started reading this one. Had to import a copy from the UK and borrow a 3DS as I don't have my own, but I'll gladly make that effort. I first heard of it thanks to Pumpkin's Favorite Games countdown, but since have also heard it being recommended by other people so I was rather eager to check it out.

Since I'm not reading it on my PC for a change, I can't take screenshots as easily. Sorry bout that.

So ...

Tags: hakuouki, impressions, visual novel

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AIR's common route is quite entertaining, I must say. So far it has done a good job creating a potentially interesting setting for the character routes.

First off, the soundtrack is amazing. Need I mention Natsukage? So damn good. Or the opening Tori no Uta, IMO one of Key's best openings, music-wise at least? Yeah, it's great.

Yukito is a great protagonist. It's not often that Key protagonists actually have an ...

Tags: air, bookclub, impressions, key, visual novel

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Kara no Shoujo, or Girl in the Shell, is a visual novel developed by Innocent Grey and localized in English by MangaGamer. Primarily, it's a very dark and suspenseful detective story.

The title screen music, simply titled "Kara no Shoujo", is quite beautiful.

Overview

The story of Kara no Shoujo follows Reiji Tokisaka, a private detective, as he investigates a series of bizarre murders in Tokyo. ...

Tags: kara no shoujo, review, visual novel

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Just a few hours ago, I started reading Kara no Shoujo, or "Girl in the Shell" (no relation to Ghost). So far it's shaping up to be a detective story with you actually being expected to investigate and deduce things. It feels a lot like Ace Attorney Investigations. Been a while since I read something with that particular sort of interaction.

Just noticed that the "no" symbol is written in Katakana. Huh, weird.

...

Tags: impressions, kara no shoujo, visual novel

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The "Hate" series, consisting of Analogue: A Hate Story and Hate Plus, was written by Christine Love. Both games are very similar in format and plot and have a quite unique way of telling its story.

Analogue: A Hate Story

Analogue: A Hate Story is set in a distant future where Earth is far from being the only place where humans live. The protagonist seems to be a bit of a Space Cowboy, doing investigation missions for random sponsors for a living. One such ...

Tags: christine love, hate series, review, visual novel

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Video Games , Internet , Miscellaneous