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Post by bonesnapdeez on Oct 29, 2023 19:51:31 GMT -5
Well, yes, it is a console release.
There's actually no quick and easy way to get the uncensored versions of the games: it's not on on Jast or MangaGamer or whatever. You gotta search out those "Director's Cut" patches online.
Another game in the series, Teito Moyu, as mentioned in the article, is also being released soon. I assume it will be a Steam exclusive. Supposedly a related game (Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, from 2001) is also coming, dependent on crowdfunding. I kinda hate this publisher now. They're mostly into gacha crap and it seems like their gacha revenue dictates if/when old stuff can be localized. So is the claim.
Great series though. A VN titan.
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Post by Ex on Oct 30, 2023 13:15:50 GMT -5
Well, yes, it is a console release. So this again: I was tempted to get into Muv-Luv a few years ago, because the artwork is extraordinarily good, and I always see Alternative come up as the GOAT VN. But I decided not to for three reasons. One is the censorship (if you buy the retail editions), two is the first game is apparently high school crap plot-wise (what people say) but is still required reading to understand its sequel Alternative, and three is the overall length; According to HLTB "Main Story" times: Muv-Luv = 21 hours Muv-Luv Alternative = 48 hours Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse = 31 hours Even just sticking to the first two games that tie together, that's nearly 70 hours of "playing" a visual novel, which in reality is passively reading a digital manga. I have no doubt there is some good stuff in Muv-Luv, but how many dozens of hours of vapid filler text surrounds it? I wager a lot. Now I'm aware what I would consider vapid filler, others might consider hours of savory flavor text, so to each their own. I'm not pissing on these "titan" VNs, just explaining why I decided not to read them. I may eventually get around to watching the anime adaptations, however: www.anime-planet.com/anime/muv-luv-alternativewww.anime-planet.com/anime/muv-luv-alternative-total-eclipse
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Post by bonesnapdeez on Oct 30, 2023 14:07:32 GMT -5
I dunno how similar these Switch releases will be to the Vita releases. Soyny really leaned in hard with the censorship of Alternative, really effing up a pivotal (nonsexual) moment of the game.
The first game is awesome. If you like dork ass late-90s/early-2000s slice of slice of life animu. I (sometimes) do. I really don't think it's anything like digital manga. The aesthetics, especially the animations and music, are very integral to the experience.
You might like the anime. The Alternative anime is very truncated and assumes the watcher is already invested in the VNs, however. Total Eclipse is a side story with characters that are exponentially less interesting than the ones in the main story. That anime is arguably better than the Total Eclipse VN though, which has TONS of text about mecha models and geopolitical relationships. It can be a chore.
Basically, it's a hard series to get into "casually." Like Higurashi, Umineko, and others, you're either committing to a massive time sink or getting an incomplete story.
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Post by Ex on Oct 30, 2023 15:36:41 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. Definitely doesn't sound like a casual VN investment. If I could buy these uncensored and complete, I'd be a lot more interested. But I'll admit the artwork is really stellar (especially in Alternative) and I can see the appeal.
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Post by toei on Oct 31, 2023 0:40:00 GMT -5
I agree that VNs aren't digital manga. Manga illustrates everything so you get a constant feeling of movement. Compared to comic books, manga is more like a storyboard. It's also generally much less text-heavy, except for some '70s manga when they were experimenting with the form. The closet thing to actual manga in a video game is Phantasy Star IV's cutscenes.
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Post by Ex on Oct 31, 2023 9:18:39 GMT -5
Let me put it another way then. Visual novels are closer to being manga, than they are to being video games. Calling a visual novel a video game is like calling a Choose Your Own Adventure book a board game. Perhaps it's best to think of visual novels as their own exclusive media.
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Post by bonesnapdeez on Oct 31, 2023 9:56:30 GMT -5
Video gaming is an almost comically diverse medium; I'd consider VNs to be an outlying genre. They're certainly "gamey" in terms of platform, UI, aesthetics, and many have more "traditional" gameplay elements inserted in. They're packaged, sold, and marketed as video games. If there was ever a time to classify them as something else that ship has sailed.
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Post by Ex on Oct 31, 2023 9:58:54 GMT -5
They're packaged, sold, and marketed as video games. Even the kinetic ones.
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Post by toei on Oct 31, 2023 11:52:01 GMT -5
bonesnapdeez In 2020 or 2021 I "played" through an early '90s VN that had recently been fan-translated. It's a horror story about an English rock band on tour, where the lead singer has hallucinations that are getting more and more real. It had to be on a computer platform of some kind, but I can't remember what it was called for the life of me, and I apparently didn't write it down. Any idea what it is? EDIT - Found it, it was Mirrors for the PC-88. Most game from that era (1990) that get called VNs are really ADV, but this was really a VN, with the only interactivity being a choice here and there.
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Post by bonesnapdeez on Oct 31, 2023 15:07:47 GMT -5
I remember coming across that on VNDB ages ago. Looks pretty cool.
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