/games/ - Video Games

>Do you have an idea for a setting?
Modern day Japan, a main character similar to that of the underground man, but instead he is a naive sick man that found himself reborn 15 years before died, but this time he has the option of living as a hikkimori or giving life a second try. I haven't read Lord of the Flies yet, but a similar incident would happen, where the population of a small city in Japan becomes isolated from the rest of the world as a barrier surrounds the entire place. The population of adults would disappear only with a few teachers and maybe some other adult characters left. With this, I would show the growth of civilisation, their would be finite resources, thus the most tallest and brutal males already at the top of the ladder would assert their dominance, but rapes and murders would happen as well, as well as revolts. There would be another twist (*If you have not watched Bokurano, do yourself a favour and read/watch it! But I have a plot somewhat similar in mind*) that would lead to the place expanding but to different dimensions and whatever, I would also have some similar plot elements to DDLC where determinism would be an allegory to the player's choice and the authors will.
>Will it be linear or non-linear
It will have different endings and routes, and a bunch of brutal bad endings. But I will make sure to refine the endings and routes. But I'm thinking of releasing it episodically.
>Do you have the programming knowledge needed to create a VN at present?
I'm learning python currently, I'll probably use Ren'py.

On the fight scenes stuff, I'm sure if I work for a while (hopefully I can get some IT job from the certificate I'm doing) I'll get enough money to afford some cg's, or maybe some wiz on here would be kind enough to draw some things for us. Also I like Fata Morgana as well, I haven't finished it yet, but it reminds me of this quote from Schopenhauer:

"We learn by experience that happiness and pleasure are a fata morgana, which visible from afar, vanish, as we approach; that, on the other hand, suffering and pain are a reality, which makes it presence felt without any intermediary, and for its effect, stands in no need of illusion or the play of false hope."

This is the underlying theme of the game; that man is a compound of insatiable desires, and in a constant state of deficiency and thus suffering. Humans naturally desire sex, food, luxurious items, dreams of being rich, dreams of being popular and not know the superficiality of these desires. To me people are repugnantly superficial, indeed we are like animals; our success in 'love' affairs is determined by our sexual dimorphism i.e. our looks, I certainly believe that love is the epitome of superficiality based on nothing but the will to life's instinctual craving for a suitable partner - our success in life is determined by not just our efforts, but our environment and genetics; intelligence is attributed to genetics, our personality is due our environment and whether we are socially successful is up to genetics as well. To me humanity is a pitiful race that hides behind a façade of civility, without the benefit of altruism and laws that provide a mutually beneficial relationship with other people (and in a egalitarian sense, due to our sense of 'justice') we would commit heinous crimes, for example how men in a frustration to get sexual satisfaction would violate a succubi to satisfy it? This heinous crime is in fact the norm of humans for the past centuries, fighting over sexual resources has always been imperative to males, and thus the distribution of succubi through monogamy formed the basis of civilisation, this was however after agriculture was invented - a resource scare area that I will write, will have a pyramid of strength and this established pyramid will be shaken when the characters are bestowed with 'powers', and lore-wise this will be the foundation of human sense data being able to not just perceive space, time and causality, but a new sort of 'energy' that will become the basis of the magical system in this visual novel.

From "On the suffering of the world" by Arthur Schopenhauer: "The pleasure in this world, it has been said, outweighs the pain; or, at any rate, there is an even balance between the two. If the reader wishes to see shortly whether this statement is true, let him compare the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is engaged in eating the other."

It came to me that the suffering of the world was so immense that it was impossible to believe in a higher power, thus in a state of paranoid delusions I believed the world was ruled by unseeable archons who were servants of the Demiurge; an innocent God of the material realm, or a god with a sociopathic disposition similar to the humans in this world. Now I believe that these delusions were in fact just the result of the collective unconsciousness of humanity, as is the astral realm which is the collective unconsciousness of humanity. I believe that the will to life which to Schopenhauer was the "thing in itself" if you are familiar with Kant, the world is divided into phenomena (representations) and noumena (the unknowable thing in itself), Schopenhauer realised that our will which was not controlled on our own, such as our desires (insatiable lust, insatiable hunger etc) although transient made themselves apparent in our consciousness, and were not spatial-temporal. In fact this will to life permeates all living things, and I believe the unseeable Archons, the demonic tormentors of mankind, is the will to life; as all desires lead to suffering, all life is inherently suffering, and the root of these desires is the 'demiurge' or archons. To me the 'demiurge' and 'archons' are simply allegories to the will to life. Gnosticism is a sect of Christianity, one that is considered heresy by the Church giving it the appeal of 'hidden knowledge' or something other, it especially appeals to schizophrenics like Phillip K. Dick (I haven't read him but he seems to an interesting individual). Gnosticism seems to me the perfect allegory to use in this visual novel.
>. I'm also really interested by the concept of Azathoth, the blind idiot God, who created everything in existence; And for whom the universe would end if he was awoken.
This is similar to the Demiurge, but the difference being that the Demiurge is sometimes written as malevolent and also ignorant, basically that the Demiurge birthed by Sophia (a lower emanation of Monad who is the supreme God), attempted to create the a reality different to the Pleroma as he had never interacted with any other beings. This was the theologians answer to the problem of evil but it posited a number of other questions; namely, why do the higher Gods not interact with the lower beings? And save the innocent beings suffering under in the material realm of the Demiurge. As I have not read a lot about Gnosticism (which I will) I believe that it isn't a great philosophical theory, but it is definitely the most interesting religion to be contrived from the Human mind; and the similarity with the philosophy of India, Bhuddism, where both the Greeks of the west and the Indians of the east renounce materialism is to me, further evidence that those men of intellect greater then their will naturally find pessimism to be the truth. Other religions such as Christianity and its Abrahamic derivatives, also believe that happiness in the material realm is fleeting and impossible, thus they believe in the afterlife a realm of incomprehensible bliss.

The demiurge is the cause of the world, although using causality in this way is erroneous: "For every cause is an alteration, and one must necessarily ask about the alteration preceding it, by which it was brought about, and so on in infinitum, in infinitum! It is inconceivable that there ever was a first state of matter, from which, while it had not always been, everything following it would have proceeded." (On the Fourfold Root of Sufficient Reason, Arthur ). Therefore there can not be a first cause, all cause is an alteration preceding it. Thus in Schopenhauer we find that with his philosophy built of the edifices of Kant's transcendental idealism, that the thing in itself, a thing separated from time, space and causality was the first cause; due to the will to life only manifesting within us, and the impossibility of knowing how an object works outside of time, space and causality it needs no cause. Thus it is the ultimante cause of the world, a thing that exists outside of human conception, and by our own that it manifests itself as all living beings. In India, the will is synonymous with Brahma. Brahma is Brahman, is the impersonal, supreme and uncognizable Principle of the Universe from the essence of which all emanates, and into which all returns, which is incorporeal, immaterial, unborn, eternal, beginningless and endless. It is all-pervading, animating the highest god as well as the smallest mineral atom.

But as Schopenhauer will tell you, when our intellect has preponderance over our will (which we achieve in philosophical contemplation) we find that the world is wretched and miserable.

Hegel (who Schopenhauer hates with all his passion) has an interesting idea, one of humanity being 'God' becoming aware of itself, it's teleological rubbish, humans are in a constant state of desire never being filled, and his hollow verbiage has been debunked as it is another form of the ontological proof which is a relic of the past.

You may have heard of Phillip Mainländer, a philosopher who built upon Schopenhauer, with what I consider to be a faulty epistemology. He considered that due to the world being subject to entropy, that all things that are being desire to end, and that God becoming consciousness of himself split himself into finite fractals so that he would die and decay, a will to death was what it was caused; to me this is contradictory since the will to life was the most exemplified by humans with meager intellect and animals, only withering away when a tragedy befalls them. But the world being the dying decaying corpse of God is an interesting idea, that I may incorporate. I am anti-natalist, although I believe the best way for a man to live is through the contemplation of art as it is a divine state of painlessness where the will withers away and the intellect has preponderance over the will (the cause of all pain) we find ourselves in a painless state - therefore I hold it as the meaning of existence.

My idea is that the collective unconsciousness materializes somehow (a mystery subplot) the main character would be cursed with eternal recurrence (from another plot part), every character reaches a tragic ending, our main character could possible try to bring upon a redemption for humanity but failing.

Anyway that was just me noting down some of my thoughts.
Have you tried Ritalin or any other stimulant it helps me with motivation and is amazing for writing. I will play those games you recommended, if you have even more I'll play them as well.
>>58610
>in general cute females need to be a minority in the work
I agree I might not even put in a harem, I'll put a few succubi but most of the female characters will be human and flawed.
>no SOL or very minimal to serve the purpose of making the tragedy and horror feel more brutal when they come
I definitely agree
>the genre should be horror-mystery-drama mainly, with some fighting/action thrown in here and there
I'll be having a few "epic" showdowns, but mostly the genres you mentioned will be what I am aiming for.
>- it should be set in a completely imaginary world/country with its own history, rules and customs (this gives us the most artistic and creative freedom)
I will also do that, but I will achieve this in a different way as the world we live in will be overcome by an awakening (for example in Berserk when using the Egg of the Perfect World to bring Griffiths material form into the world).
>love and sexuality would only be portrayed negatively or destructively
Saya no Uta does this well, reminiscent of Othello and Romeo and Juliet. Other relationships in this story will be as superficial as possible.
> the atmosphere would be inspired by horror movies, metal/rock music, Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines feeling, Type Moon works, Guilty Gear - Blazblue, Metal Gear series, Texhnolyze, Ergo Proxy, Uro-butcher's stuff like Saya No Uta and Psycho Pass/etc, Neon Genesis Evangelion, 07th expansion works - there is no shame in stealing from the greats, is there?
Good choices.
>no overly intellectual tone and 2deep4you stuff, at least not in excess
That is what I believe to be the case in making a good work of art, I'm not going to put in length expositions until midway, but I'll mostly make sure the readers can piece together it from clues. Similar to how Higurashi and Umineko have various fan theories, I also want to make the story similar to that - with readers wondering whether the world is a delusion, a simulation or something other.
>Camus and Nietzsche
I don't mind them, I like Nietzsche but disagree with some of his views, I may post my essay about him and link it here (but not in this post, for brevities sake).
Everything else you say I agree with, and yeah I will have the main character or another character become a Nietzschean Übermensch.
I also wanted the main character to be a morally corrupt person who rapes, but I want to give him a love interest that is pure (similar to Saya).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBdnti4_UUg&ab_channel=UnseenPhantom%5BAMV%27s%26YTP%5D
I like that song you posted, I also want to use more rock/metal songs in the fights, but some of the ending fights with a more somber tone.

I'm a huge fan of Gen urobochi, so Madoka will certainly inspire some more plot elements. I like Gantz, Ajin, I am a Hero, Fist of the North Star, Tokyo Ghoul and other edgy seinen shit so honestly that's what I'm going for.

Also I finished the first route of Tsuhikime I might as well finish the rest, I still havent finished umineko as I only go up to the ending. I know the ending is that the we make up our own truth is it still worth finishing?

Beatrice and Saya are the type of heroines I like desu. The mc should also be

>>58611
The "relationship" between Kokoro and Satoru suggests to me that there is something between them we aren't aware of. It's not just the "body switch" thing. They are very attracted to each other even though they only communicate indirectly. I don't know what it is but it is very suspicious. Wait, in Kokoro's story you have a choice when you can decide what to eat and everyone will say the same thing you decided…so Kokoro is partly controlled by Self too I guess

I also remember that there is a choice when you read Satoru's story, when you first meet Keiko/Hotori you can choose how you call her. Does that make any difference?

> (1st Pic related is concept art sketch I made from your ideas)
Cool, I feel like we just might create the edgiest story ever. Not that it is a bad thing.

>>58614
>Umineko
When I read it ep8 translation was still in progress, then I never got around to reading ep8. From what I read about ep8 and the ending it is pretty bad when you consider how good overall Umineko is. Still I want to read it fully and I advise you to do the same too. This is the shit thing about VNs, if you don't know japanese then you will have to wait until someone decides to translate them into english. In the case of obscure rare gems we may never even get a translation, ever. By the way, if we are talking about 07th Expansion then the last VN I read was Rose Guns Days. It was OK, not great but there were some really tense scenes and cool actions in there.

I also want to add to my list of inspirations: Shin Megami Tensei series. (Especially the MC from the original books, from Digital Devil Story, I want my MC to be similar. The MC in DDS was a loner genius satanist who refused to fuck some succubus in his class, the succ got him beat up with her bf and the MC in revenge ends up committing basically what is a school shooting with a demon. Wizardly.) And the Devil May Cry series too and Star Wars: Kotor II. Probably I could list tons of more books and anime but I share your taste in entertainment: I go for "edgy seinen shit" too.

Also, I was drinking beer this day and thinking about ideas for a VN. (I think everyone here should just create his own story and we could all throw together a Wizard Anthology or something.) So what I came up with is:
- MC should be around 20, certainly not a high school kid but not too old either
- The setting would be a countryside settlement, in my story the big cities are all destroyed and only small settlements survive. There would be a mix of countryside feeling and sci-fi technology.
- The MC would be living as a NEET with his older (normalfag) brother. His father goes missing and he decides to search for him, this is what will trigger my story.
- The succubi will be goths of different kinds, wearing latex, crosses, pentagrams, having extreme hair colors, etc.
- The MC will be a rebel but not the social one. He will be at odds with both people his age and people older than him/authority figures.
- There will be demon-like things co-existing with people. Also robots and other sci-fi stuff. I will mix fantasy and sci-fi.
- No big oppressive government, I think that is too cliché at this point. The government in my society will be in almost full apathy mode.

Vid related is another music I would use for a battle scene in my VN.

>>58617
Never7!! Lol This is how the trilogy is connected in a spiral.

>>58611
This only occurred to me after i'd already hit send on my post, but The idea that Keiko is a artificial personality inside Sayaka, in the same way that ORE is an artificial personality inside Enomoto's body would actually make alot of sense. Think about it: Once SELF is trapped inside the infinity loop, never to go beyond those few days in time, and never again to subjugate the wills of anyone else, what would happen to all his creations? Since SELF would be trapped in a loop in the past, his will would have no influence on the future. So maybe, for that reason, Keiko and ORE would also both disappear with SELF, and the original personalities of Sayaka and Yukidoh would return. Maybe that was one of Yukidoh's objectives?
>Kokoro is partly controlled by Self too I guess
Yeah, SELF follows Kokoro's perspective and forces her to make certain decisions. Just like he influences everyone else. Such as with the food decision you mentioned. SELF is sort of an all-powerful entity, but an extremely ignorant one. And his innocence causes harm to the characters, like how the fetus' innocence makes them kill Enomoto.
>They are very attracted to each other even though they only communicate indirectly.
That might be because ORE's memories were taken from Kokoro's perspective. Also, Kokoro and Satoru are the Anima and Animus archetypes in jungian psychology, and perhaps the two are drawn to eachother in an unconscious way, because they complete eachother. That might be part of SELF's unconscious process of self-actualization. Well, it's just an idea.
>Umineko
I really need to get to reading Umineko sometime soon. It's one of the most significant VN's i've yet to read.

>>58613
>>58614
>With this, I would show the growth of civilisation, their would be finite resources
Using a smaller set of characters as a microcosm for wider humanity. It's not a bad idea.
>Bokurano
Sure, on my list.
>pyramid will be shaken when the characters are bestowed with 'powers', and lore-wise this will be the foundation of human sense data being able to not just perceive space, time and causality, but a new sort of 'energy' that will become the basis of the magical system in this visual novel.
I'm curious about this magic system. What'll it involve?
>In fact this will to life permeates all living things, and I believe the unseeable Archons, the demonic tormentors of mankind, is the will to life; as all desires lead to suffering, all life is inherently suffering, and the root of these desires is the 'demiurge' or archons
Desire leads to suffering, but i've always felt that suffering was the root of the desire moreover. It is deficit that spurs action, because deficit is uncomfortable. Pain has immediacy, it spurs one to act, whereas 'pleasure' (if it can even be said to exist as anything other than an instrumental aspect of pains alleviation) does not have any immediacy, or really, any 'weight' to it at all. Will is the thin veil of eternal hunger, or emptiness, or deficit, and these things only spur humans so far as they are felt as 'uncomfortable' or 'bad', and so it is that all of sentience is spurred by internal suffering. I would analogize, then, in your ideas here, the demiurge as the will to life as the eternal deficit - or pain - in life that spurs it's hunger. At least, that's my interpretation of the matter. I'll definitely make sure to read on all of these topics at some point down the line. On Gnosticism and Schopenhauer's 'Will and representation'. Gnosticism seems to be a pretty ubiquitous influence in alot of media. For example, Xenobldade is heavily influenced by Gnosticism, and Shulk's weapon is literally called the 'Monado' after the Monad or supreme god.

>Christianity and its Abrahamic derivatives, also believe that happiness in the material realm is fleeting and impossible, thus they believe in the afterlife a realm of incomprehensible bliss.
The desire to transcend this material realm feels like an unconscious influence on a large number of humanities actions. As you bring up later, art is one means of transcending the will; But other forms of abstraction also carry the same appeal of self-transcendence, also including ethics of some kinds, such as the ones I mentioned, which aim to eliminate life and therefore to eliminate desire or the will (…Assuming that this is indeed possible.) Anyway, I really like your ideas here, because I think they can be approached from alot of different angles.
>Phillip Mainländer
>But the world being the dying decaying corpse of God is an interesting idea, that I may incorporate.
>all things that are being desire to end
In a certain sense, I don't think it's wrong to say that sentient beings desire for their wills to disappear: If it were not the purpose of filling desire, to appease that desire, then why fill it? And without desire (Or more fundamentally pain), there is no urgency to do anything at all. No desire to live, and no desire to die. By filling desires at all, one is implicitly yearning for desire to cease. Well, those are just some ideas anyway. I really haven't read much on the topics to which you refer.
>therefore I hold it (art) as the meaning of existence.
I personally wouldn't say this, as essentially any means of attaining preponderance over the will can be said to fulfil a similar purpose: Whether that be abstraction, spiritualism (You'll often hear people talking about how they can lose themeselves in prayer and how they want to give themeselves to god, which could be argued to be a sort of preponderance over the will), meditation, even ethics potentially (Suicide is kino unless eternal recurrence is true.)
>the main character would be cursed with eternal recurrence
Does this have to do with the main characters rebirth which you mentioned earlier? I'd like to say that the story could explore the main character in question finding peace with his will in spite of his eternal recurrence, through means such as abstraction, or as you said, art.
>Have you tried Ritalin or any other stimulant
No… I guess I could ask my doctor to prescribe some. I just feel like i'm suffering all the time, and that the pain distracts me. Maybe it'd help, I suppose.
>if you have even more I'll play them as well.
Muv-Luv Alternative should be played after Muv-Luv. AI: The Somnium Files and Your Turn to Die are good. You could play Danganronpa if you want to get an idea of how not to execute a mystery story lol.

>>58628
>I'm curious about this magic system. What'll it involve?
To be completely honest I just want this to be the most chuuni shit ever that at least aims for some 'deep themes'.
The magical system is related to transcendental idealism. There exists a platonic realm, which is ideas not located in space and time, and lower from this realm exists the collective unconsciousness of humanity. Like in berserk, the humanity desires reasons for suffering and humanities collective existential dread manifests in the upper levels, while in the deepest primordial realm is the Will to existence or the Will to Life, but for ‘fantasy’ sake we shall name this Zatiraxarka or something other as held by the Archons. But the magical system draws of a realm situated within the realm of platonic ideas, materializing in the world cognized through space, time and causality. The players would be faced with drastic moral decisions that provides a dialogue on anti-natalism, pro-mortalism, egalitarianism etc. I would have the potential of magic to be used vary on genetic mutations creating a class divide in the world, the eternal recurrence part would be the main character being sent back to the a certain checkpoint and the odds of a checkpoint being when he is killed in never ending loop of pain.
>I would analogize, then, in your ideas here, the demiurge as the will to life as the eternal deficit - or pain - in life that spurs it's hunger. At least, that's my interpretation of the matter.
Yeah that is what I was going for.
>Gnosticism seems to be a pretty ubiquitous influence in alot of media.
Yeah that is why I'm going to try and include some stuff from the east such as hinduism, bhuddism, japanese folk religons, or really anything unique, I think hermcesticsm doesn't get as much appreciation in the realm of fiction as it should have.
>But other forms of abstraction also carry the same appeal of self-transcendence, also including ethics of some kinds, such as the ones I mentioned, which aim to eliminate life and therefore to eliminate desire or the will
Of course, abstraction is the intellect's preponderance over the will.
>In a certain sense, I don't think it's wrong to say that sentient beings desire for their wills…
What you said is sort of correct, his reasoning was diffrent however, I haven't read him but I will probably later, although I much prefer Schopenhauer's thoughts.
>Whether that be abstraction, spiritualism
Yeah that was just my own meaning I guess, I want the story to be tragic but maybe have a very very bitter with a tiny tinge of sweet ending where the main character acheives a semblance of peace.Also here is some other stuff I wrote.Archons are the servants of the will, unseeable to human eye, principle of occlusion; they cannot be seen without specific conditions. They control the ultimate fate of humanity, the suffering of humanity is inconsequential to them, for the Archons concern themselves with the fate of all existence. The concept of morals is dismissed as simply “altruistic” for the sake of survival, with the classic slave morality employed by the masses while the Archons concern themselves with the refinement of existence, constantly pitting multiple universes together every aeon. Like the apostles in Berserk, the servants of the Archons are simply named after what Archon they imply loyalty to; in order for a mortal to become an Apostle of “Archon”, he must unlike the Buddhist way of denying desires, desire incredibly, his desire for dreams must be greater than his own loved ones – it must be so great that it is more important than anything else, and there are specific conditions. Amor Fati is the law that all Apostles of Archons must love their fate; no matter how cruel, and that a Will to Power pervades all.
Nietzsche initially was a Schopenhauerian, but he decided to propagate an irrational ‘life-affirming’ philosophy of the Übermensch – he claimed, “Live Dangerously!” while he was a sheltered academic caught up in abstraction.
The world will be heavily influenced from Christianity, I will use it as an allegory for the Primordial Sin of lust, an animalistic desire that led to suffering. The Genesis of the world will probably be similar to something like Dark Souls, where the world is constantly subject to eternal recurrence, to ages of dark and ages of light, essentially it allegorizes the heat death of the universe due to entropy. Similar to Yuga cycle in Hinduism, the time of decadence and complacency has lead to materialisations of various beings from the collective unconsciousness of humanity, the entire aim of all these happenings being a mystery plot; most of the stuff I revealed here would be basically a spoiler tbh. Right now I’m in the moment of studying Schopenhauer and Wittgenstein (Schopey’s influence on Wittgenstein is actually considerable surprisingly). These are all very rough ideas, I’m probably going to work on the script as soon as I have read a decent amount of literature and visual novels and I might publish it on some webnovel site and if it gets popular maybe request some patron money to help pay for the CG’s and sprites. Right now for literature I have shakespeares hamlet, Faust by Goethe, Wilhelm Meister’s apparenticeship by Goethe, finishing some of the works by Kafka, Song of a Dead Dreamer by Liggoti, the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and I haven’t really found much other literature to read apart from the stuff referenced in Subahibi (I am beginning the looking glass insect).
I am also reading The World as Will and Representation and Schopenhauer’s other works, as well the Tractus which has reignited by interest in math and logic. I think before I start I’ll just complete the Kafka’s work, half of Schopenhauer’s work, Hamlet, Dead Dreamer, and read a bunch of Edgar Allan Poe and Lovecraft’s work. And then for visual novels, I’ll play through Muv-luv (if I get bored I’m just going to get a summary of the first game or play for 5 hours), Dies Irae, Murumusa, Tsuhikime, Ever17, Umineko (if I have the will power), Fata Morgana, Cross Channel….
And this is all for a draft. Well I’m doing an online IT course so I should be fine…

>>58629
>I just feel like i'm suffering all the time, and that the pain distracts me. Maybe it'd help, I suppose.
May I ask what in particular is causing you suffering? I have suffered from OCD and that was the main reason I did basically nothing for two years.

My problem with Schope's philosophy would be that it is impossible to create art based on it. Because it is the philosophy of Nothingness. If you reject the world and will in every way then there is no reason for you to do anything. Plots in works of art, just like irl, are moved by the motivations of the characters. If there is no desire and no suffering then there is no story. All the great works of art have passionate people in them, passionate even to the extent of appearing mad or evil.

The artist isn't motivated by his desire to escape life, he is motivated by his desire to capture life. No matter how much of a fiction something is, it is still about existence.

Also, Schopenhauer wasn't exactly against sexuality, he was quite liberal concerning sexuality if anything. He says somewhere how Zeus spent his time fucking around and how that wasn't so bad as what YHWH did (destroying enemy nations and all that). He also argued for and supported polygamy, he himself had mistresses too.

My thoughts on Gnosticism is that it is another form of theism simply, negative theism. But it is a middle way. It can't accept that there is just no reason, no why for anything so it comes up with overcomplicated theology and cosmology (which still fail in the end). That is why absurdism and simple atheism are superior to me.

I don't know if this is the place to ask but I have an android tablet and I wanna use it to read VNs in bed, which are some good vns I can get on android?

>>58632
>The artist isn't motivated by his desire to escape life, he is motivated by his desire to capture life
That is what Schopenhauer say's about art, and the role of tragedy is to to show how wretched and miserable existence is so that the intellect has preponderance over the Will to Life. Many of his aphorisms and views could be neatly adapted into a story, infact many artists were fond of Schopenhauer due to the importance he placed on the arts.

The story isn't about denying life, it is about capturing life in all of it's wretchedness, and misery - that is pushes the reader to deny the will.
>another form of theism simply, negative theism
Precisely, it's why it makes an interesting mythos. Obviously it fails to beat the why is their evil part with more and more conjecture.

To me Heaven's Feel is a good example of the naivety of the superhero "Ideal" and subverts the Shounen trope found in the earlier routes of fate stay night, unlimited blade works shows you cannot save everyone, fate shows a platonic idealisation of romance but still adds to the tragedy but totally and utterly destroys this through the secret new ending where Shirou and Saber finally meet after millions of years. Well Heavens Feel shows the façade of the previous routes a lie, that the world underneath is filled with misery, when Shirou chooses to save Sakura he loses everything, and in the normal ending he loses everything to save the one he loves ignoring the countless deaths of unknown people to achieve this; an actually good rendition of Romance.
Tragic Romances are the best romances, since all love ends in it eventually withering away as it was simply the will to life pushing the lover on, it was the desire to copulate; it should always end in tragedy, as most love affairs do, and how most marriages end up in dead bedrooms and divorces. Saya no Uta also gave a Shakespearian account of love, similar to that of Heavens Feel.
>>58633
https://old.reddit.com/r/AndroidVisualNovels/comments/a6o3x0/visual_novels_on_android_getting_started/

>>58630
>most chuuni shit ever
If you're going for chuuni, you need to have a Mamiya Takuji knockoff.
>Muv-luv
Yeah, tbh, Muv-luv sucks. There's I think 5 routes but you only really need to play 2 of them I think. And then there's also extra which is probably a little more important as context for alternative. I think if you're rushing you'd probably get through it quite quickly, but I wouldn't blame you for just reading a summary. Alternatives really interesting though, if a bit overrated.
I read everything, and I get vaguely what you're going for. I just don't have anything additional to add. I was just thinking myself earlier: What do you think about setting the story in a wintery/snowy climate? Mainly I make this suggestion because i've never seen a snowy setting be anything but a boon. Anything that goes for a 'dark winter' tone always ends up with a really nice tonality. Since this is Japan, the story would be set in late December to later, then. Well, I think your artistic vision should take the forefront as I don't really mind playing a more supportive role if anything. But considering everything else you've mentioned about the story and setting, I just have a feeling like it'd make a chilling backdrop and contrast to things. Also, I really love music that goes for a 'dark winter' kind of vibe. Ie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JWANCA-Pbw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3DGBfXt6GY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh2JI18ByvU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdO6uKdMl4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-sn3zMDdG0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTpeGIsXsGo
I was also thinking that maybe you could make one of the characters a pianist or something to link into the art idea? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlayqBKbU8w This scene from Subahibi stuck with me. I just like the wordlessness and how the scene just let's Yuki's playing speak for itself.
>>58631
>May I ask what in particular is causing you suffering?
I think I also have OCD or at least OCPD. and all the other boring stuff depression, social anxiety blablabla. It's kind of hard to say though why exactly I feel so bad all the time. I feel really deep shame about my existence and also chronic dissatisfaction and emptiness that nothing ever fills.

>>58641
The snow setting is actually really good, reminds me of Swan Song which I barely started.
>If you're going for chuuni, you need to have a Mamiya Takuji knockoff.
I read his chapter and it was really good, but a bit redundant while reading his schizophrenic monologue a lot of the Ideas he had were similar to mine (being the saviour of humanity) and him spitting out random occult and scientific terms like "I have a Quantum Holographic 6th Dimensional Brain" was something I used to do, as well as take other contradictory chuuni opinions and just type out long ramblings about them.
>pianist
Good idea I am pretty sure that I can use Satie's music freely, or some other songs, so I'll have to look into them.
>I think I also have OCD
The only thing that got me out of that was SSRI's, and yeah they do help since OCD is literally something to do with the brain and is not a meme mental disorder. I also feel shame in some regards, I try to cover it up with Delusions of Grandeur.
Anyway what's your discord? Or email or any other form of contact is fine since I have more Ideas to discuss with you.

>>58642
>I have a Quantum Holographic 6th Dimensional Brain
I am the only being in existence - so your brain? 0th dimensional - it's an existence that emerged from my world, and only exists as my world. My world is everything and nothing, and you're just a setpiece in my universal play. Heh, I was reading Edwin Abotts flatland one day, and I realized that the book was communicating to me. That it was me communicating to myself. That 1 dimensional entity at the end of the book? That was me from another timeline going back to the past to hint to myself in all descending timelines that I was a 1-dimensional point. The only being in the universe. The entire world. The reason for the ambiguousness in the collapse of quantum systems? They only collapse specifically when I observe them, because i'm the only being in existence. Nothing exists except what I perceive. All religion was devised by past forms of me as a form of self-worship and narcissism.
>The only thing that got me out of that was SSRI's
I'm actually taking an SSRI right now. It hasn't done anything yet except decrease my motivation even more, but maybe that'll change. How long did they take to work for you?
>Satie's music
I'm personally fond of this piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jRRGI9_ht0
>Anyway what's your discord? Or email or any other form of contact is fine since I have more Ideas to discuss with you.
You can email me at sumimber@gmail.com
I don't like the format of conversations on discord or similar platforms. It stresses me out. I probably won't check it that much because I'm trying to distance myself from the internet (I hope that isn't too much of a problem, life's pretty long anyway), but you can message me there I guess.

>>58643
>>58643
>The only being in the universe. The entire world. The reason for the ambiguousness in the collapse of quantum systems? They only collapse specifically when I observe them, because i'm the only being in existence. Nothing exists except what I perceive.
That is very much like the thoughts I had when I was in my Chuuni phase, except much more refined.
>How long did they take to work for you?
I'm at 50mg dosage I think, and they worked in about 8 weeks. Motivation is definitely a side effect, but Stimulants (I use dexamphetamine) personally motivate me a lot and I can read for hours.
Also I agree that Discord is an annoying platform, I personally don't use that much. Also I delved into the western Visual Novel sphere and it's filled with the typical leftist normalfag and some of the more retarded types who get mad if you don't say your pronouns. Anyway I'll email you some more documents.

>>58640
I have a much simpler idea about why tragedy is the best genre: a) We like seeing others who suffer even worse than we do. Schadenfreude. It makes us feel like our life isn't so bad compared to this. It's kind of like how Kotomine Kirei thinks in FSN and how the witches think in Umineko. b) It is the most realistic genre in the sense that it reflects our world the best in its dark tone. We feel right at home in tragedies while comedies can feel alien to us because of the light-hearted tone.

>The story isn't about denying life, it is about capturing life in all of it's wretchedness, and misery - that is pushes the reader to deny the will.
Denying the will is the same as denying life, no? Without will there is no life. By creating art or anything you embrace the will.

Most ascetic and idealist philosophers had very puritan, anti-art views. The more ascetic, life denying or will denying someone is the more he looks down upon art or hates it. At least that is how it looks to me. Plato, asian monks, devoted pious Christians all had anti-art sentiments. That is because asceticism, idealism and denying of the will isn't compatible with art. Art is about passions and emotions, while the former line of thought is about rationality above all. Asceticism and idealism lead to denial of the will and denial of existence and these in turn lead to anti-art views. Idealism can't produce good art or can't be the basis of good art by its nature, idealism is suited for philosophy and science because it focuses on concepts above all.

On the other hand Dionysian/Nietzschean attitude and life-affirming lead to the creation of art and great tragedies. This philosophy is the one that is pro-art. Schopenhauer is kind of an odd guy because he elaborates on his idealism, asceticism, denial of the will but still you can tell that he very much loves art and values the passions highly. I think Schope wasn't really an idealist, life/will denier or ascetic. Nietzsche had a good point about him, saying that a man who loved art so much as him couldn't have hated existence that much, couldn't have been a pessimist.

>>58645
>Denying the will is the same as denying life
It's denying the desire to do something out of a motivation from the will, basically contemplating art gives the intellect preponderance over the will. Art captures the platonic idea, Schopenhauer thought through the contemplation of life's suffering through tragedy, that the intellect achieves preponderance over the will

>>58644
Let me know here when you do so I can make sure I actually received it and that the FBI isn't isolating me via electromagnetic interference.

>>58647
Yeah I will, I'll send one in the next 24 hrs

>>58648
Can't believe anon died from a sudden-onset heart attack ;-;

>>58648
I don't know if you forgot or are just busy/lazy, but i'll be waiting anyway.

>>58728
I have become very lazy. And my family had started annoying me by taking by stuff

>>58743
I'm happy to hear from you, anon. That's okay. If you're still up for it, i'll wait for as long as you need. I've got nothing but free time. Have a good month, and such.

In order to create my VN I will start reading way more VNs and reviewing them in this thread.

I have decided to not read Umineko, I have already been spoiled for it and it took me 3 weeks of playing the game to get to episode 4 where it suddenly became incredibly Kino and I love Ange but the whole mystery the whole mystery being a truth which you can make up just ruined it for me, now I have no motivation to read it. I think I'll just play ciconia when they cry, or one of Ryukishi07's other works. Also mahoutsukai no yoru is getting localized I think.

VNs are trash.

>>58812
there actually is a truth to the mystery but the more important thing is that the actual "mystery" itself isnt ultimately the primary focus or what's most important
a shame though

>>58812
i don't think you're missing much. it's horribly paced and waaaay longer than it needs to be. i don't think it's bad, but i don't get why it's so popular.

the ost is amazing, though.

Subahibi was constantly recommended to me, and now that I’ve mostly finished it, I can see why. It was definitely a reading experience that would be hard to replicate in any other medium, and I haven’t ever really read anything at all similar to it. It’s a somewhat poetic grasp on the ephemerality of life. The closest thing I’ve ever read to Subahibi is Notes from the Underground, where we see the insights of a typical social outcast who provides his opinion on society in general, and I really enjoyed Notes from the Underground, but that novel was much more literary while Subahibi is written in pretty generic prose (except for a couple of moments were the writing was genuinely good). The similarities end there, Subahibi is more like diving head deep into the utterly deranged fantasies of a lunatic, with each chapter providing a new character’s view of the events happening, and the reader is then constantly asking why, what the hell is happening? The first chapter is really quite boring at first, but I think that it has a lot of merit once you finish the entire game, and furthermore the ending leaves the reader with multiple questions about what just happened, each chapter leaves you more and more bewildered with events unfolding that are contradictory, characters endlessly defying time and space by suddenly appearing and disappearing. Another important part of the game is that it adapts Wittgenstein early work Tractus Logico-Philosophicus, which is a rather well-known work in the world of analytic philosophy, but I doubt the common visual novel reader is interested in epistemology.
The main themes taken from the Tractus is that basically that “The subject does not belong to the world; rather it is a limit of the world,” and “The limit of the world is the limit of my language.”
Those might not make sense from just reading them but basically all Wittgenstein is saying that our subjective experiences are ours and ours alone, the limit of the world is each and all of our experiences or I guess they could be defined as the ‘Transcendental Hypostasis”, and that the limit of the world is what language can express; in typical analytic fashion, all meaningful propositions in language is that which can be empirically verified, a proposition that goes beyond intersubjective experience is something Wittgenstein says “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.”
Those propositions about the existence of God or whatever aren’t meaningless to Wittgenstein rather, they should be dwelled upon in meaningful silence. From now on I will talk about spoilers so go ahead and read Subahibi before this. We see in “It’s my own Invention!” that Takuji goes more and more insane, it is genuinely like stepping into the head of a schizophrenic for a couple of hours, and it was interesting but I didn’t think it was amazing, it lacked in something, I’m not sure what, but if I think they put Zakuro’s perspective before Takuji’s there could’ve been a better build up for the mystery. I really did like Takuji’s anxiety ridden breakdowns, as he progressively becomes more and more deluded as the bullying becomes more and more extreme, we see after his traumatic rape scene becomes that he attempts to remove his personality. All of these random suicides for example Zakuro’s suicide led him to use these coincidences to form a cult, and somehow uses his newfound martial art abilities to assert his dominance as “Humanities Saviour”, it’s intriguing to see him interact with his delusions and also pretty funny to see him dream up random futanari sex scenes. At the end, he decides to escape with Kimika to the End Sky. In Zakuro’s perspective, we see how haunting her experience with being raped as she is bullied by the two-faced whores, she can’t actually tell at all whether they are being nice or mean (probably because she's an autist), Zakuro was probably the best succubus, she was cute and innocent, and her story’s ending was another good example of a tragedy executed well. The reader probably would find these delusional type events hit much more harder if they preceded their correspondence in reality, for example Zakuro flying to her death and then Yuki seeing her in a puddle of blood. The later chapters are good touch, especially Jabberwocky and Jabberwocky II, It felt similar to the normal ending in Heavens Feel, where both of the heroines are left without their saviour, but in Hasaki’s case she starts believing in her delusions while Tomosane is dead. I can’t really say anything more about this Visual Novel, it was good, it captured the spirit of being a person undergoing a traumatic case developing delusions and psychotic symptoms very accurately, it gave a simple and profound message but it didn’t leave me utterly devastated. The feels it gave me were more like “this is a sad story, oh well”, but It definitely made me reflect on the ephemerality of life. Overall a 7/10.

It took me far too long, but I finally finished AIR. It's a great VN. I just feel so empty. Whether I fill my head with fictional stories, or try to craft real ones, all I see is desolation and emptiness. Well, all I can do is cope with it…

…So, I like almost everything about AIR. It has a great cast of characters. I like all of them. Good soundtrack. It has this desolate setting that fits it well. I like all of the routes, and it has a bittersweet ending. I guess it should have been shorter, though. That's all.

I will write about what I read recently.

Chaos;Head Noah - 9.25/10. The ending is kind of… eh… But the rating should make it obvious how much I liked everything else. Immensely looking forward to reading Chaos;Child now.
Harmonia - 5.75/10
It's main boon is being short.
Totono (Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no koi) - 8.25/10
Really interesting experience. I have some reservations about how some things were handled.
Hotel dusk - 7.5/10. Some plot holes and contrivances and the game doesn't really take chekhov's gun under advisement. Everything in the story is thematically relevant, at least. The characters are really enjoyable.
Paranormasight: The seven mysteries of Honjo - 8.75/10. Maybe even 9. Richter and Harue are the most enjoyable characters, they have a great dynamic. But I like all of them. It begins as a "curse" battle royale, then quickly morphs into focusing more on the mystery. The mystery is equally engaging, but they could have done more with some of the ideas here. I have few complaints. I was kind of cringing at the "meta" elements, because every VN in existence has done them at this point, but the way they were handled in the end was fine, actually. The twist wasn't that the player was involved in the story, but rather that the POV character was the spirit of Seimen, and that HE was involved in the story. And I think that's a decent enough spin on these overused meta concepts that I don't mind it. The game honestly does an excellent job leaving no loose ends.

Going to play last window (hotel dusk sequel), the rest of the SciADV series, then possibly move onto Higurashi and Umineko next.

South Scrimshaw

I don't play visual novel games but watched Manley play one. I really like this one. It's like David Attenborough narrating on an alien world. It even has some world building about the future human society observing this species. Kinda like a nature documentary enthusiast with art skills flexing their creativity on biology. I loved the Seabun skit.

>>59719
I did play Last Window and Higurashi - Though i've still got the console arcs left.

Last Window: The Secret of Cape West - It's a pretty dramatic improvement over the first game, which itself wasn't that bad either, and it's only problem is that the pacing is a bit slower.
Higurashi: When They Cry - It's actually a really good VN. Though I wouldn't blame someone for disliking it when it's longer than the bible, and frankly doesn't need to be. The answers arc also isn't as good as the questions arc. My favourite characters are Ooishi and Rika. After that, i'm not sure, but Satoko, Irie and Keichi also stand out to me.
Onikakushi - The first arc is also one of the best ones. I'm unsure if this or Tatarigoroshi is my favourite. When I first started it, I read the first 2 chapters and stopped. When I continued, I binged the entire rest of the novel in a single sitting. The start is slow, but the second half (everything that happens after Ooishi meets with Keichi for the first time) was so engaging I just couldn't stop reading. This is an amazing opening chapter.
Watanagashi - It's pretty good. In retrospect, it's actually pretty clever, but you might not realize that when you're first reading through it. Meakashi almost makes it feel redundant, though.
Tatarigoroshi - A thoroughly engaging chapter that feels worse in retrospect. I guess the explanation mostly makes sense, but i'd be lying if I said it isn't disappointing. Anyway, I don't want to understate just how memorable many of the moments in this chapter were. There's at least 5 of them:
- The moment where Ooishi first appears, and Keichi is immediately unnerved. I like how his sentiments are supposed to mirror the players, because Ooishi's appearance in the first two chapters signalled the beginning of where everything began to go to shit. Ooishi's versatility as a plot device in this way is part of why I like him as a character so much.
- Satoko's situation in general is handled really well, but the moment where she finally snaps, and Keichi also does the same is amazing. The situation was handled well enough that I could completely understand where he was coming from.
- When Keichi finds out that Satoko's uncle is still alive. It isn't memorable because it's a "le shocking plot twist", but rather because you just watched him spend hours planning and executing his murder. You see the entire process. And then at the end, you find out that, according to Satoko, her uncle is still alive and her abuse is still ongoing. It's unbelievably frustrating, and I think it's good that the story was able to invoke that emotion. Though, yes, in the answers arc you find out this was Satoko's delusion.
- The scene where Ooishi catches Keichi digging up the body. I don't think I have to explain why this scene is great. The music choice is excellent as well.
- The entire ending, from where Keichi discovers Satoko almost dying from heatstroke, to the great Hinamizawa disaster.
Himatsubushi - It's fine, I guess, even though it's a filler chapter. I did say Ooishi and Rika were my favourite characters, and they feature prominently here, so I can't complain. The ending scene in particular is quite memorable and provides a good bookend on the questions arc.
Meakashi - It's fine. Basically just an answers sheet for Watanagashi.
Tsumihoroboshi - Really good chapter. The peak is the school being held hostage by Rena, of course.
Minagoroshi - Might be my third favourite chapter. I loved the concept of everything seeming to come together in this fortunate way, only for Rika to realise this timeline was a repeat of Tatarigoroshi, her least favourite world. The section where everyone tries to save Satoko is long, yes, but I think that was somewhat necessary, because Tatarigoroshi is supposed to be this "insurmountable fate" and I like that it's solution takes alot of work. It leads into a really satisfying resolution. The rest is fine. They reveal that Takano, the most obvious mastermind in history, was the mastermind. And there's also this really fucking stupid scene where 5 children somehow hold their own against professional assassins for a couple minutes. Ooishi also dies, which was sad, because he's usually fortunate enough to be one of the only survivors.
Matsuribayashi - The connecting fragments and Takano's backstories were good. Irie in particular really benefitted from it. It's satisfying watching things come together at first, and I enjoyed seeing Tomitake, Irie, Ooishi and Akasaka on Rika's side. Ooishi also has a couple memorable moments in this chapter. But towards the end, it devolves into an absolute shitshow where 5 children take on the shittiest military unit in existence with """traps""". What was Ryu thinking when he wrote this cancer?
Saikoroshi - This is a pretty decent epilogue to the story.

If I had to rank the chapters, I might do it something like: Onikakushi, Tatarigoroshi, Minagoroshi, Tsumihoroboshi, Saikoroshi, Watanagashi, Meakashi, Himatsubushi, Matsuribayashi.

>>60297
What an interesting and strange game.

i need to find fun visual novels. i always go for porn stuff and then when the creators delves into his own personal piss fetishes i lose interest. i guess it's time for non porn vn

>>58523
>>58555
I'd recommend giving Raging Loop a try if you haven't already. It's a murder mystery with trials like Danganronpa but I feel it addresses your criticisms of the characters being more reactive and contemplative to what's happening to them.

Finished a game called "Endless Monday: Dreams and Deadlines". Pretty spritework, but mediocre experience.

>>60317
try hatoful boyfriend for peak fiction
>>60343
Thanks for the recommendation. In fact, I already have it downloaded. I'll certainly play it sometime.

Anyone here fantasize about making their own VN?

I have no experience writing, I just want to make the kind of thing i'd like to read. I have no illustration ability either. Have some ideas for how I could make the visuals in spite of that. It'd just be a kinetic novel.

some vague elements I fantasize about including:
-abstract far future tech. some examples of fiction I'd be influenced by in this regard:
-bleakwarrior
-superluminary by john c wright

-complex tactical combat involving said technology. internal monologue characters involves lots of tech jargon.

-narrative that jumps between a huge variety of non-standard POVs. some examples: AI Virus infiltrating a system, genetically altered intelligent mutant hive mind of warrior insectoids in a hellish warzone, tech gods living in VR heaven who instantaneously telepathically communicate walls of poetic text, a member of the standard population that has an internal monologue of degenerated ebonics/newspeak.

-massive time-skips that show the progression/degeneration of the setting while still retaining certain key characters.

-overall story feels like the chronicling of Life itself going out of control into chaos.

some more influences:
-fourteen by kazuo umezu
-jack womack's dryco series

>>60551
You can use Stablediffusion or midjourney to create visuals for you. Then mash them together with photoshop/krita.

>>60552
yeah I was considering that. maybe making low fidelity collages kind of like pic related. maybe use some weird filters.

I know someone who's obsessed with AI and they pointed me towards using comfyui but the generators i tried using with it would always spit out super generic looking stuff despite using pretty specific prompts.

>>60551
i just can't bring other characters to life for writing in general. i can't bring myself to care about other points of view that aren't interesting to me. for example any succubi characters, mothers, etc… it can't be helped>>60551

>>60553
Cant you just feed the ia your own gallery?

>>60551
Yes, I do. I think it would be a shame to die without producing some kind of storytelling work i'm satisfied with. I have alot of ambitions. Naturally this is one of them, and VN's are my preferred storytelling medium. It also seems somewhat practical to do, and it seems more likely that anyone will even pay attention than if you were to write a book or something. Even Higurashi and Umineko used real-life pictures as backgrounds and some questionable amateur sprites at first, and Higurashi used royalty free music. It doesn't seem like a very resource intensive medium, since it just requires PNG's, music and text, so it's reasonably practical. It's something I might try once i've developed myself alot.
Well, even with no writing experience, I think you should go for it someday. You sound like you have a creative mind.

>>60304
I have a curse called excessive thoroughness. So for some reason, I read all of the console arcs. All together, they're probably even longer than the main story.

Hirukowashi - Boring
Batsukoishi - No comment
Higurashi Outbreak - Bad
Kamikashimashi - Bad; literally nonsense
Hinamizawa bus stop - Pretty decent if you have 2 hours to kill.
Taraimawashi - Boring, cool ending though. I was surprised when I saw it referenced in the second season of the anime adaption (Btw, that anime fucking sucked. Anime plebs btfo'd yet again)
Tsukiotoshi - Entertaining enough, but the character writing feels a bit off, and overall I just don't care about it. There's this scene where Keichi, Rena and Shion are just casually discussing the murder they committed the other day in a public lobby, and all of a sudden, Ooishi just walks in with this grin on his face, and they're sitting there like "…Shit. Did he hear all that?". That scene got a good laugh out of me.
Someutsushi - The first arc in the advanced story, which features an almost entirely new cast of characters. Notably Natsumi, who's fine, and Tomoe Minai, who fucking rules. She might be my second favourite Higurashi character now. Anyway, Someutsushi is kind of boring.
Kageboushi - Advanced story 2nd Arc. This one stars the trio of Akazaka, Ooishi and Tomoe as they try to solve the mysteries surrounding the GHD. That's also why I like it, since any scene where any combination of the three of them is on screen together is usually really enjoyable. Memorable in particular is the scene where Tomoe dies, and how everyone reacts to that. Especially Ooishi's breakdown about it. We even get to see his survivor's guilt over always being the only one left alive.
Yoigoshi - Just really weird, I don't know how to feel about it. I liked the concept of playing as the son of the journalist who Keichi curses at the end of tatarigoroshi, but otherwise I don't have many opinions about it, negative or positive.
Tokihogushi - Another good advance story arc.
Console connecting fragments - There are some pretty good ones in there. One that stuck in my memory was the scene where Maeno is transferred to public relations, just like Tomoe is, and Yamaoki explains to him the utility of connections and control of the media, with 'you -destructive-' playing, and Maeno realises that amassing such power is a necessary step if mere police officers intend to take on a conspiracy surrounding powerful bureaucrats. It contextualizes the ending of Tokihogushi a bit more.
Miotsukushi - Very, very long. Anyway, this is undoubtedly a better conclusion to the story than Matsuribayashi is, but it still has some of that arcs flaws, and in retrospect i'm kind of iffy about some things it does. If, like me, you found Matsurbayashi lacking, you may like this more, because it feels like it resolves alot more threads. Keichi is also alot more relevant, and has many great character moments. That seems alot more fitting than his borderline irrelevance in Matsuribayashi, since he is just as much a protagonist of this story as Rika is. I mentioned that I liked Minagoroshi because the solution to Satoko's abuse doesn't end up being some cop-out, but requires extensive work - The support of dozens of people, even. In Miotsukushi's case, that same problem is solved instantly and it just feels cheap. And not only that, Rina and Teppei are just killed off by the writers for no reason, despite the fact that the plot could have still functioned with them alive. Again, it feels cheap and convenient. Also, towards the end, Keichi and Rika just start dodging bullets like they're in the fucking matrix and they introduce this plot point about this backup plan Takano totally had the entire time to put chemicals in the water that gives everyone L5 symptoms or something and ???????? I'm pretty sure that makes no sense. As for good things, the final confrontation between Rika and Takano is actually very good, bullet dodging aside.
Miotosukush Omote - The same arc but with some changes to make it line up with Miotukushi Ura, which are fine, and some other general changes which are incredibly baffling at worst. There's no reason to read this unless you're me.
Miotsukushi Ura - If I have a favourite console arc, it's this one—This is the 4th and final arc in the advanced story, once again starring Tomoe. It has a slow first half, and an amazing second half. Some memorable scenes in particular: The scene where Tomoe puts two-and-two together about the medication Rena and Natsumi were taking, with an instrumental rock version of the 'qualia of the shining sky' opening playing. It also plays during the scene where Tomoe realizes what her fathers memo actually means, and those scenes really gave ace attorney pursuit vibes. Also the one where Sorimachi tries to receive the evidence from Tomoe without a warrant before the Nagoya district prosecutor, and she chooses to trust him based on his connection to Akazaka, who she met briefly at the beginning of the arc. Finally, the scene near the end where Tomoe tries to head to the airport alone, and the entire police force is just standing there at the entrance, ready to risk losing their jobs and join her on an essentially illegal raid. That scene was so fucking hype, and it acts as a parallel to Tomoe's father doing the same thing, but on his own. I also like most of the characters (Yamaoki, Madoka, Natsumi, Tsukada, etc), but especially Tomoe.
Kotohogushi - Long-winded, but fine. I'm not sure how I feel about this relative to the rest of the higurashi universe. It doesn't really feel like it connects at all or really explains much of anything, but it's a servicable self-contained story.
Hajisarashi - As far as joke arcs go, this one is actually really funny.
Mehagashi - This one too.

Overall: Ideally, you should play Higurashi with the original backgrounds (As the drawn ones look sterile and dull) and the console sprites. Higurashi peaks with it's first chapter. The questions arc is very good. The answers arc is kind of uninteresting, and gets a bit too bogged down in heavy-handed thematics and questionable writing choices. The advanced story is good, but long-winded. Miotsukushi is good, but flawed. And the other console arcs aren't really worth reading, as they range from bad to a little bit dull. That's everything.

I read Umineko.

Good, but not really the masterpiece I was wanting it to be. It's a more-or-less fair/solvable murder mystery story (that's far too long) where figuring out the culprit is the easy part- Figuring out the tricks behind the murders is the easiest part once you've got the right culprit- and figuring out their motive feels almost impossible (I still don't fully get it). I have two main criticisms about the tricks behind the mystery.
A. It's really boring. The solution to every single mystery on the game board is invariably 'multiple personalities/biased perspective/bribed accomplices' with few exceptions, and it's fine, but I was hoping for something else
B. If you really nit-picked at it, Shannon/Kanon/Beatrice being the same person (Sayo) probably contradicts a bunch of red truths. But you're not supposed to be exclusively relying on the red truths for your theory-crafting anyway, so having to twist the semantics a little to make it fit the interpretation probably isn't a massive flaw. It's still pretty lame, though.
I like Higurashi more. Something's missing from Umineko that prevents me from saying I love it, and it might be because the plot just feels aimless and meandering for the most part, and because the characters weren't handled how I would have preferred them to be. It's hard to say. The story can be summed up as Battler's attempt to understand what Beatrice is telling him. He understands that by the time we get to episode 6. After that, all that is left is to give an answer check for the mysteries and resolve Ange's arc. After it's over, it ends up feeling like not that much happened, since the 'game boards', which took up most of the time, were only stories the game masters were telling to get across some kind of message.
My favourite characters are probably Maria, Lambdadelta, Eva, Battler, Nanjo, Kumasawa and Kinzo. I guess Featherine is also pretty interesting.
Despite being a basic logic puzzle that you might find in a professor layton game for 30 picarats, solving Bern's puzzle without using hints made me feel like Megamind.
I could say more than that, but I won't.

>>61064
I wish for her pointy snaggletooth to leave a sore spot on my wandshaft.

>>61075
Me too wizzie, but she wouldn't do that to anyone except bern

Also, I forgot to mention Erika, Dlanor, Will, Lion, Rosa and Natsuhi. I like all of those characters too.

the only visual novel I played was fata morgana (and I didn't even finish it). what's appealing about VN?

>>61549
It's like a book…with visuals.

Yeah, I will see myself out of the thread now.

>>61556
I prefer VN with gameplay, fo you know some?

>>61557
How do you feel about edgy rpg maker games?

>>61558
since it's rpg maker better be a 10/10 because I quickly get bored of them (like it did with my play of black souls)

>>61559
nevermind then