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 ...
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. ...
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. ...
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 ...
What... the... smurf...? Why would you do that? Why? So in a nutshell, Hate Plus thought it was a wonderful idea to be a jerk to fast readers, by having it block itself for TWELVE smurfING HOURS after Day 1 ends until you can continue on to Day 2. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!? It's even a smurfing achievement to not skip any of these pointless waiting times over three goddamn playthroughs. ...
Saya no Uta, in English The Song of Saya, is a visual novel developed by Nitroplus, localized in English by JAST USA. If there was ever a novel that deserved a warning that it's "not for the faint of heart", it would be this one. I chose Do not obscure grotesque images so a quick warning; there is gory imagery in this blog post. Honestly, if this is what makes you reconsider reading this novel... you probably ...
So Kazamatsuri.org, a Key community site I frequent, is having a bookclub on Key's second visual novel: AIR. As I have not read AIR, and also because this bookclub sounds pretty fun, I will be reading along. So here's how this'll work. Over two weeks the participants will read through a particular route in AIR and discuss it, and at the end of said two weeks there will also be a podcast about the route in question. There ...
Ever17 -The Out of Infinity- is a visual novel developed by KID, and localized in English by Hirameki International. A prime example of a story that simply could not, would not work properly in any other medium. One of the few openings I've always watched every time I started up the game. Overview The story of Ever17 follows six characters as they are trapped in the underwater theme park "LeMU", being left behind as it was ...
Boy from Kansas coming through. Follow the yellow brick road! Follow the yellow brick road! Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road! We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz! What's up EoFF? We did it, IX just barely managed to crawl out with the win eliminating X-2 and butts were sore. Mine is still sore from the spanking Psychotic gave me. "No, Tori. That's a very bad Tori. Go to your room and think about what you've done!" It looks ...
Okay it's been a while since my mind has been blown this much by plot twists, and they just keep on coming. In fact I don't think any visual novel since Umineko had this kind of a 'wow' factor with its plot twists. Like seriously, all these disjunctioned plot points and lines suddenly come together to form the big picture and the amount of sense it makes is... scary. Let me go a bit further back. So in one of the first few choices you can pick which protagonist you play ...