-Didn't like how reliant on the no vision gimmick the puzzles ended up being, especially the "ram yourself against the walls until you make it"

There are basically no such gimmicks outside of a single puzzle though? And even within that "Weeping Angels" statues puzzle you are allowed to turn on your lantern. You just can't move while it is on. That way you can get your bearings, plan a route and then turn the lantern off to follow it. Whenever you feel lost, turn it back on. The whole area is full of matches exactly for that reason.

When it comes to this game I rather often see people misinterpret their struggles for bad game design, when in reality they just didn't figure out the gimmick and then brute forced it. Which in itself is almost praiseworthy, as the game lets you get away with such methods.

Getting Lebkuchen's good ending is worth the entire experience. It is truly the best.

I hear you, Leb is a good~ For me personally Freya is best girl though :D

To me this is less of an evaluation of which girl I like best (though that would probably still be Lebkuchen), but rather who I believe is most compatible with Elise. Her relationship with Lebkuchen is simply the most supported by the game I suppose. Childhood friends, Elise admitting that the only reason she stayed in Kieferberg is because Lebkuchen is there and so on. Even her bad ending is the only one where Elise gets some kind of closure. Even though Lebkuchen felt the most betrayed out of the three heroines and accused Elise the most, she still forgave her beyond the grave.

Rozenmarine despite her plot connection, simply doesn't sell the relationship well. They first met at the start of this game and despite all this insistence on fate I cannot bring myself to buy that their connection became this strong in 7 days.

Freya is very sweet and the most straight(hah)forward of the three. She is quite incredible in her own way and I definitely believe the love between her and Elise. Unfortunately she has very little presence in the game unless you go out of your way to pursue her, which makes her feel like more of an outsider.

That reminds me, since VN hybrids are fine, I'm gonna put out a recommendation for Little Goody Two Shoes, by AstralShift!

I apologize for my late response, I was busy playing CCC.

Little Goody Two Shoes is a game that I actually have finished myself. I bought it on release and got all 10 endings. Would I consider it a VN hybrid? If I were to be put on the spot my answer would be no. It is very much an RPGmaker horror game inspired affair, but not one of the visual novel types. However, it is a very good and polished game that is worth playing.

When it comes to atmosphere and visuals it outclasses all its contemporaries. Following a lesbian protagonist who can date three incredibly well written girls is unique as well, although due to the plot and genre there are a lot of bad endings and caveats for this as well.

Getting Lebkuchen's good ending is worth the entire experience. It is truly the best.

last edited at Dec 14, 2023 11:33PM

After 10 long years Fate/Extra CCC the sequel to Fate/Extra has finally been translated by the awesome people on https://iwakuraproductions.wordpress.com/2023/12/08/fate-extra-ccc-english-patch-released/

As you may be aware, I have put the Extra games on the list on page 1, though once again this is an RPG/VN hybrid game. Fate/Extra is an amazing game with several options of Servants and heroines, most of which will lead to yuri should you pick a female protagonist.
They have huge amounts of content and replay value and thanks to emulators like PPSSPP can be played comfortably on your PC and Adnroid even if you do not own a PSP.

If you have not tried Fate/Extra yet, I highly recommend it. For everyone who has played it, CCC is more than worth your time and a brilliant sequel that ups the ante in every aspect. Even if you have no interest in any other Type-Moon property, these games are perfectly standalone (CCC requires Extra to make sense, obviously), so there is no need to feel overwhelmed.

it's very well written, to the point that i can't think of any other VN that handles these subjects better than UsoNatsu does.

I wish i understood enough Japanese to listen to the voice drama, def sounds like it'd enhance the experience. Though to be fair, the why and how of Kaoru falling for Mirei is touched upon in the main game, so at least one doesn't miss out completely by skipping it~

From what I can recall watching it months ago it mostly focuses on how Kaoru ran from home due to her family situation, was picked up by her middle school teacher and sought refuge at her home. Although this sensei acted a bit cold, Kaoru fell in love with her kindness and even after returning home kept coming to visit her and confessed her love eventually... but was rejected.

There is also this short about the teacher and another woman I don't know interacting at a bar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruuBBN6tLVI

The next game of the Fatal Twelve devs, UsoNatsu ~The Summer Romance Bloomed From A Lie~, is out now~

Been looking forward to playing this one since i heard about it, can't wait for the download to finish!

OH my god that was so GOOD???? introspective and raw and well paced and oh my lord.

def mind the content warnings bc woof. it's not over the top or indulgently dramatic at all, which makes it hit so much closer to home with how candid it is and doesn't gloss over things. woof

i want to gush but i also don't want to talk more about it, so i'm just gonna leave a big recommendation to play it xD

(https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images//44431254/18056d5005bca8afdaef9db707354b485687ca4d.png)

I have bought it on release myself, but still have to work through some of my backlog (Crymachina is taking most of my time). I am looking forward to it because I was a big fan of Fatal Twelve.

Until you pointed it out I had not paid attention to the content warnings. I expected some mild nudity and mentions of tobacco due to the teacher, but those warnings are a lot more sinister than that. I can only wonder where and how tags like "Self-harm" and "Suicide attempts" will be implemented...

That being said, I have already listened to the voice dramas which tell the events before the game on the developer's Youtube channel. I think this will be quite interesting for anyone who likes this VN, although there are no translations to speak of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7uWsiMnhUU
This is an hour long prequel that details how Kaoru met her teacher and how she fell in love with her.
The channel has several more smaller voice dramas involving the cast.

last edited at Nov 7, 2023 9:22AM

Finally had some time to catch up.
Chapter 28: Tsubasa did always strike me as a late bloomer, but it is rare to see the tomboy sport-brain archetype to be the one with a overinflated sex drive. On the other hand it was not the least bit surprising that she never masturbated before. Love potions seem to have the strangest varying effects. That school nurse was really just waiting for any excuse to do that, hm?

Chapter 29: Unbelievable to see someone who is even more scummy than Toudou herself, but leave it to a family member to surpass her high standards. It was glossed over a little, but to think that her miserable family life was orchestrated by her little sister, it was rather heartbreaking. Of course this does not acquit her parents from their actions as they are adults who should know better. Still, Toudou herself is/was an undeniable scumbag, so I suppose there is some level of karmic balance maintained. Good on her for having absolutely zero attraction to the little evil empress, but this breaks every law of probability for a Mocchi work! No incest even with so much set-up. What a shock.

Aphrodisiac being used as some sort of truth serum is a new one, but I suppose Mocchi has decided to hard railroad Toudou on the Rin route after all. I did not expect it to be this aggressive to be frank. I assumed at first that she was simply so horny that she confused desire with love, but the punchline never came.

Chapter 30: Honestly, just a very humorous chapter all around and it really had a strong flow. I know the contest in Volume 4 was controversial, but I believe dodgdeball will be a rather different kind of competition to that madness. I noticed that Yanagi is on Prez's team, so I am interested to see her return, especially because she doesn't even come to school. Prez and Banryuu have a great dynamic as usual. If Mocchi truly decides to shift away from a harem ending, then I suppose these two might get together as Sachie is giving huge bottom signals for Prez.

The excuse to have Rin involved again felt somewhat forced this time around, but at this point I should not be surprised. It will be somewhat interesting to see all of Toudou's alleged harem members/sexual partners in the same team this time (aside from Kamisada). Prez, Kuroshiro, Rin, Iwagaki and Yanagi would create some interesting tension.

Mocchi really has been giving the extras from the class a lot of focus lately which is nice. Vice-prez in particular needs more love. I cannot fathom what the mask girl and the ghost/alien one are about or why we suddenly see them interact like old friends we should be familiar with, but I trust the plan.

No matter which side wins this contest, it only seems like a tropical vacation would be done with the entire class. Perhaps no matter who wins, the winner will be gracious to invite the rest too. If it is Prez I can well imagine her dragging Sachie with her as a personal maid.

last edited at Oct 13, 2023 2:07PM

Incredible. A doujin settled between Chapter 4 Part 1 and Part 2 of the main story that is not afraid to address the hard and spoiler heavy topics that make Heaven Burns Red so fascinating and philosophical, while still retaining the humorous and absurd moments that make it endearing.

Indeed if Ruka needs to etch a strong memory of Yukki into her soul so she can never forget her... this would certainly be one way. At the beginning I was immediately reminded of Ichiko Oshima's event story which also revolved around memory loss, but the author had already thought of that and brought it up directly. Fortunately it did not take such a dramatic and dangerous trigger to recover her memories as it did in that event.

I have no doubt in my heart that Ruka and Yukki will eventually reach this point naturally in the canon. Memory loss aside, this felt completely in character already. As expected of the main couple I suppose.

Today marks the release of the free story DLC for Synergia: Sunrise

A very short and succinct epilogue taking place 1 year after the events of the main story. I will avoid spoilers, but it is both depressing and hopeful, much like the main game. The writer has a knack for making incredibly immersive and interesting tales that always leave you wanting for more. So I end up at the same conclusion as the first time I finished Synergia - please give me more!

PS: As usual I have added more VNs to the recommendation list.

last edited at Oct 3, 2023 1:47PM

Momo and social cues do not get along. However Shamiko and being honest about her feelings for her "nemesis" do not work together at all either, so I wonder whether she would have been able to deliver these cookies in a way that would have clued Momo in. She most likely would have said that she made some for practice and was testing them on her nemesis! Only for her to cave in and add that they are definitetely good though and that Momo can eat them without worries.

Neko Tarou is building up to be one of the all time greats.

Today I come not with a recommendation, but rather a topic of discussion that pertains to how I deal with the recommendation list.

AI generated art

A contentious thing to be sure, but one that will become harder to avoid as time goes on. It has come to my attention over the past year that some Visual Novel devs (and of course any other kind of game dev) are starting to rely more on this tool than they perhaps should or are capable of. I will not name any particular groups or studios, but there has been a flood of yuri visual novels and games that use AI art quite liberally, both for characters sprites/CGs and even backgrounds.

The issue with AI art has been and will continue to be heavy uncanny valley, basic mistakes that even an amateur can spot and bad anatomy. In many cases these mistakes are so obvious that it seems outrageous they are not at least touched up in post. Bent bones, extra fingers, hair fusing with skin, impossible clothes, inhuman writing etc. Devs who do not even care to hide these flaws in their screenshots or trailers exist now.

I do see AI as a double-edged sword and as long as it is of good enough quality I may even be accepting of its use. As long as the writing is human and interesting, perhaps art is a secondary concern.
But these are after all in the majority products that cost money. Money that rewards the use of what in some cases can only be considered art theft (most AIs are fed with existing art to remix it).

So frankly, is it even permissable for me to add such VNs to the list?
Should I make a separate section that specifically lists these AI riddled products? But in that case would I not simply create a contamination zone so to speak rather than a recommendation?
And in cases of devs who are much more adept at altering the AI base and make seamless transitions into handcrafted works, must I make a distinction?

I would appreciate some insight from other users so that I may figure out how to deal with the recommendation list going forward. Thank you.

EDIT: It appears the topic is not that important to people, so for now I just chose not to include AI generated art VNs on the list. Ultimately anyone can still just recommend them normally in here anyway.

last edited at Oct 3, 2023 1:29PM

@Yasako
Claiming Crossick's real life break up happened because of fans is really disingenious. They were a real couple and they had a real break up. These happen sometimes and the volatile minefield of having a public relationship most likely did not help, but this is really not the same situation as some business/entertainment ships stopping. We will most likely never know their true reason for breaking up and it should not concern us.

last edited at Jul 21, 2023 4:05AM

I likewise cannot wait as well. But the temporal force is not willing to bend the knee and accelerate to that glorious future for some reason. Such a tantalizing time to binge read this wonderful manga, just to be stopped before the true pay-off.

The most enjoyable part is how both of them are so multi-faccetted. Yoroizuka seems apathetic, but she can absolutely be emotionally affected and express desires. She simply has a higher resistance to emotional connection with her own feelings and others. I was especially proud of her for being capable of using empathy to predict that putting off the Christmas celebration out of some over-serious concern about passing on sickness would have been emotionally devastating to Kurumi and reconsidered. It subverts the usual "selfishly considerate" trope and makes her more human. People are not robots that will avoid all risks and always act by the book.

Kurumi appears as the cutesy airheaded type who only has pure love to give, but she has a lewd streak and a real impatient desire to advance their relationship. Her pro-active nature is wonderfully refreshing, even if she lacks the emotional stamina to keep up with her own daring plans and fails to pick up on cues from her girlfriend at times. The fact that she has a healthy mix of emotional and physical needs makes her feel much more real. It is also enjoyable to see that while she has her declared goal of spoiling her girlfriend she is still secretly happy when the reverse happens as well.

last edited at Jul 12, 2023 12:00PM

Good news everyone!
Volcano Princess sold 600k copies. That is an incredible achievement for a small indie game. I believe this will set a good example for future Princess Maker style games and perhaps also give them the funds to make either some DLC or a sequel.

The keychain makes it look like Subaru has a fluffy tail. Phenomenal! Revolutionary!
The art was cute and the story was to the point. Very enjoyable and digestable.

The only question is whether the neighbour to the left is also listening to them and will eventually reveal herself to tell them she loves "stargazing" as well.

Ah, poisoning the well. (snip)

tl;dr
Somebody cares to condense it?

I can do it for you, real easy. It's an incoherent word salad, full of blabbing and devoid of meaning. He toots all his headcanons as if they were facts, he accuses the other poster of personal attacks (because they reminded him of the forum rules) and demands that they address his arguments (when they aren't the one who was debating with him). I think this was just an attempt to drown everyone under a logorrhea. Srsly, you did the right thing not reading it.

Well at least you two have something in common, you both didn't read my post.

Of course the mellowing of Toudou Itsumi is very noticable (no doubt making out with lots of cute girls helped), but I want to point out that Shirashiro also calmed down massively since her introduction. She used to be rather unhinged. Her manga like persona was obviously a defense mechanism, but I once would have ranked her at the top 3 of most unreasonable characters in this story. Now she is mostly just a shy introvert who tries her best. Toudou also went from treating her like a nutcase to calling her her best friend. It is truly something remarkable.

On the topic of the Twitter previews, seeing Tsubasa on the tweet talking about erotic developments gives me pause. Either Mochi is trying to integrate her into the fold again or she has plans to put Tsubasa into a pairing with another girl. Or perhaps it is just a reaction to something erotic going on that doesn't involve Tsubasa herself...

And as many predicted, Toudou's little sister is most likely a siscon. Not only is it implied that her little sister's popularity is what even awakened Toudou's desperate need for attention and approval, it also seems that she has no idea she is being the target of incestuous affection. It wouldn't be Mochi without a little incest.
That strange ball she is holding makes me wonder if aside from love potions you can order online there are still many other strange products to be discovered.

Ruruka just lost her best friend position

And deservedly so.

last edited at Jul 3, 2023 10:54AM

Excellence both in artistic skill and character portrayal. Details and references everywhere. Very stimulating depictions of sex that feel no bit exaggerated, yet flashy at the same time.

How harrowing that the world was bereft of such talent for 2 entire years. I wish hiyocco the best.

last edited at Jul 2, 2023 1:13PM

Constantly accusing another commenter of biases and hidden motives, as you do time and again, contributes nothing to the debate.

Ah, poisoning the well. A true classic.
Aside from you projecting some habit on me, you didn't seem to get the joke. Then again, my career as a comedian was always doomed to fail haha

Well maybe I am not as easy to convince as some people here, but I can definitely say that I have some disagreements with Nene's post. There seems to be some selective reading going on there, perhaps due to personal biases?

And when you reply to someone's post, try to actually address their arguments. In your message, you completely ignore the points you don't like. For example, that Yomotsuka is just another love potion victim and whatever she feels isn't real, unlike Rin whose love is the real thing.

It's interesting that your post would quote the exact part that renders this accusation meaningless. As I said, and you quoted, I only had an issue with some of Nene's points and that's why I only addressed those points. I do not quite understand why you wanted me to talk about points I agree with?

But to indulge you on this, let's take your one and only example of me allegedly ignoring "something I don't like" (which is weirdly contradictory as the only points I wanted to address were those I don't like?). I excplicitly went in depth on the situation surrounding Yomotsuka, because Nene has a self-expressed bias against her right now. I explained both why their interpretation of her actions in Volume 4 may have been skewed and also agreed that Yomotauka's love is not portrayed as strongly romantic.

But unlike you, Nene has not actually claimed that the love potion victims cannot have real love for Toudou, just that Rin is the "only one" who never drank it, to put her on a narrative pedestal. I already debunked the idea that there are no cast members who didn't love Toudou without the love potion by pointing out Kamisada's case.

So to oppose your completely new point, this is simply not supported by the material. The love the victims feel during the love potion drugged state is not real, but anything that happens outside of that is. Kamisada, Kuroshiro and the like are all crushing on Toudou right now and there is zero indication that those feelings are fake or caused by the love potion's "lingering effects". We know this is not the case because Toudou drank the potion herself and was drugged to love Ruruka, but clearly has no such lingering feelings left for her. Meanwhile Tsubasa entirely stopped having feelings for Toudou after her potion wore off, because she has zero incentive to have real feelings for Toudou.
Ergo, anything happening beyond the drugged state is real. Which is obvious as Kamisada has feelings for her before the potion and Kuroshiro likes her because she shows interest in her hobbies and treats her as a friend, which she has never experienced before.

As for Yomotsuka, I pointed out before she seems to be the player type. She seems quite serious about wanting to make Toudou hers and she appreciates the true Toudou on a level nobody but Rin has until now. Whether you consider this romantic enough is up to you, but that's why I went out of my way to flip the script from who is totally in love with Toudou to what is equally important... who Toudou is in love with. Toudou has a crush on Yomotsuka that is supported by the entire manga and she has a strong focus on her. It is even implied that she has been paying attention to her since before the manga started. I may go out on a limb here, but I think there is a reason why she chose her to be the love potion test subject beyond "revenge". In the very first chapter she already questions whether she truly ever disliked her.
So as you can see, if you want to claim narrative superiority to one character for their love being real, then you need to also understand that there is an equally strong narrative point being made in the opposite direction. This is why I explained that Toudou only showed an interest in Rin after being confessed to, while Toudou has always had feelings for Yomotsuka, but told Rin she doesn't know whether she realy loves her back.

"Attack motives of opposition, don’t address their arguments" is a terrible rhetorical combo.

Ironic, considering your post has addressed exactly zero of my arguments and only focused on attacking me, while actively ignoring the parts that would make this reply pointless. I won't project a motive on you, but I hope this was a benign misunderstanding.

last edited at Jul 1, 2023 2:35AM

Well maybe I am not as easy to convince as some people here, but I can definitely say that I have some disagreements with Nene's post. There seems to be some selective reading going on there, perhaps due to personal biases?

I used to be a fan of Prez x Toudou, but not anymore. I stopped liking Prez when she used Toudou to bet against Banryuu, knowing well that it could end with Toudou being tortured in a yakuza dungeon. She doesn't have feelings for Toudou; she's just possessive and looks at Toudou like property. FUCK HER.

Evidence 1! Just kidding, I won't be playing armchair psychologist here. But on the point of selective reading, this is definitely the strongest case. Two major pieces are relevant here:
1. Yomotsuka made quite clear that she wouldn't actually let any harm befall Toudou. She has a possessive streak and has made clear she won't back down on what is hers. The torture thing was a good motivator and Yomotsuka knew that, but there is no indication she would have let it happen.
2. Perhaps due to your dislike of the scenario you overlooked the authorial intent of this whole development, which is that Yomotsuka had perfect confidence that Toudou would succeed. That is the main conceit of that arc in fact. Yomotsuka sees Toudou's strengths more than anyone else and is using them on purpose. She knew that Toudou is like a cockroach that will do its utmost to survive even nuclear fallout and that she has gathered quite the circle of abnormally talented friends around herself. And lastly she has no hesitation to speak her mind, which helped break Sachie's defenses.

While I could agree that Yomotsuka's feelings are not portrayed as strongly romantic, her affection and appreciation of Toudou are second only to Rin as of right now. You seem to be selling her short.
And to flip this around...

All chapter 25 is like Mochi on a soapbox yelling at us that these two have found mutual love.

..if this is Mochi yelling that Rin is endgame, then I would say the fact that Toudou had a crush on Yomotsuka for the entire manga and has basically mentioned her almost every single chapter in 5 volumes is Mochi yelling on a soap box that Toudou has the hots for prez. Meanwhile she has only felt any interest in Rin after Rin made clear that she likes her first, which plays nicely into her attention fetish.

I do not want to discount Rin at all, I think their interactions are amazing. But as far as Toudou goes, she has shown a much stronger sway to Yomotsuka for a far longer time and if we go by authorial intent, she was definitely set up as the main love interest until the latest chapters. So we can either see this as a swerve or (and this is far more likely in my opinion) Mochi sticks to the obvious path of not doing a mono pairing. There is no strong indication that there is supposed to be an endgame pairing.

One thing, though: Kamisada has a best friend who is in love with her.

And this of course does not mean Kamisada has to respond to those feelings, should they ever come out. It's not impossible of course, but you seem to be ignoring that Kamisada had an interest and implied feelings for Toudou since before she took the love potion. So if you wish to give Rin a place on the pedestal, make some room for the tough girl, eh?

(Oh, I'm not counting Yanagi because she isn't part of the circle of girls who claim to love Toudou. From what we've seen, she just thinks of Toudou as a piece of ass, and Toudou just likes sex with her because she's so cool and gorgeous. No feelings to be detected between them.)

There is plenty of room for her to get more chapters and to be more involved. I am intrigued by her hinted backstory and why exactly she has to avoid school. This seems to be the next major conflict in the works. The question is whether that will lead to her falling for Toudou or bring up a crazy ex-girlfriend. Both seem equally likely and entertaining.

but, then again, with the data we have, I have to admit that it's not 100% certain for now.

I'd say.

last edited at Jun 29, 2023 6:04PM

@Yasako

I'm not really bothered by het if it's a towards anything resembling a female player surrogate since I can just detach.

It's so odd that this is even applicable in a game where you technically play as the father. Regardless, if a game has yuri options I will staunchly ignore all het as best as I can. I do not play yuri games to experience het content. If I do engage with het works then I obviously already made up my mind to deal with it and can appreciate it more naturally.

I do not mind missing out on 100% completion in this case, that's for sure.

they fight over Rose. Like, what are you doing? That's the entire opposite reason of why you would go for poly, practically speaking?

I hear that is the ultimate fantasy of most straight women. Two hot guys who fight over you.
Imagine me rolling my eyes.

I wish the NPC/villager romance endings had more content. Rebecca is sooooo cute. I had to turn off the part of my brain that remembered her age (I wouldn't have had to if she only joined the town when Rose hit 15 or if she was even two years younger though rip) but she's still so sweet with Rose.

I like Rebecca too and this is going back to my statement that the game definitely leans more towards het romance. Out of the 7 female love interests, 3 are immobile NPCs with very limited interactions and involvement (Rebecca, Mary and Connie). Lebsa and Gwyneth being house leaders also only hang out at the base, but at least they have more general presence. Meanwhile all the direct male love interests can appear all over the map and have a lot of involvement with the world and each other. The only stationary ones are the real outliers like Mark (that one knight who never shows his face) and the blacksmith and the boatman who both don't actually romance Rose themselves (thank the goddess for that brrr).

You'd think Nina fails in the androgyny metric, but she has a mullet, so like, even applying the male standards, she passes, if barely.

A mullet is not a masculine hairstyle, it is unisex, but I suppose that is what makes it androgynous in your mind? Also final year/adult Nina has no mullet, she has long free flowing hair. In general I actually like the sprite changes in the winter year a lot. Nina definitely gets the best glow-up though.

@h3x

Finished Flowers series.
-printemps- 7/10
-ete- 8/10
-automne 6+/10
-hiver- 6/10
Yeah, the grande finale was disappointing.

Putting Printemps above Automne should be a violation of the Geneva Conventions. I have seen war crimes less gruesome! I can only assume this evaluation is pairing related or something and not an objective assessment of the writing.
Automne is still objectively better written than Printemps and Hiver though, whether someone likes it or not. Ete is rather popular and it often is a head to head race between these two, but I generally see it come down to pairings. EriChido is simply that good, so it is not hard to see why Ete often wins out for people. On the other hand those who do not like Ete generally think it is too much fluff with very little actual advancement of the plot. It is definitely the lightest course in the 4 set meal of Flowers.

That aside, on the prior pages me and a few other posters had some... intense discussions about Hiver and I did indeed find myself on the same side as you, one who is a bit disappointed with it. Though I would not rate it that low because of it. It stumbled in a few crucial places, but it still hit the emotional highs it needed and serves well as a cap on the series.

last edited at Jun 28, 2023 6:00PM

As good as this series is, I'm not going to pay for it twice.

While I strongly disagree... Who said anything about paying twice?

@Iuinthoron

I just finished the last Flowers game

Meanwhile I'm still waiting for the physical release that should have been out already at the end of last year, but somehow still isn't...

I hope you do not make your playthrough dependent on that physical release. I fear you may never play the game then. My advice is to play the digital release and then play the physical release again. Any excuse to replay these phenomenal novels is good!

@Giftnova

It's fine, this is one of the few benefits of having sleep disorders and literally no sleep schedule, it let's you binge a lotta shit in a short amount of time xD

That sounds... awful. My condolences. I have a friend with very strong insomnia, so I know the trial and tribulations through osmosis. I can't imagine sleep deprivation enhanced the experience, but it's good that you take it in stride.

@Yasako

Re: the post about Volcano Princess...
You forgot to mention the fact that Mona and Gwyneth are friends. I was very pleasantly surprised by certain developments in that regard.

I tried to be very brief with my post as you can surely tell (hahaha), but yes, there are infinite details I have not elaborated on. It was just a recommendation post. I can talk about this game for eternity to be honest~
However, I agree on Gwyneth and Mona. That poly ending is my favorite in the game right now.

Also, I feel like while there are more het options, the game expects the player to match Rose and Nina on the first playthrough. Until you get used to the game's mechanics, Nina is the most reliable party member. She's also the first party member (aka romance target) you interact with and has the most events you're forced to see. Also she's cute. Also the moe of the fact that she stays short but Rose, who started out much smaller than the comparatively more ikemen Nina, ends up a fair amount taller.

I cannot say whether that was the intention by the devs, but Nina has a very strong presence unlike most of the other female love interests, that is for certain. She has to do the heavy lifting in all the school events too. She is the only girl you can dance with during the school festivals and the like. And she is so very charmingly confident about it too.

(though I would not call her ikemen per se (not just because I dislike using that term on girls))

Speaking of Rose growing, the events where she grows taller seem to differ sometimes for reasons I do not know. My Rose has had different heights in different playthroughs. It's a true mystery to me.

As for the game giving some more weight to yuri options, if Nina is the starter pack of love interests, then Lebsa is certainly the final boss of love interests (heh). Her plot related involvement and special ending conditions make her stand out the most by far. After all there is no other love interest who is affected by the True Ending.

By the way, Mona is the absolute best party member due to her tier 3 skill, meaning the ideal party composition in most cases is just The Girls. lol

Nina's healing is certainly a good reason to take her along early on, though I feel Ze's petrification shot is just far better than a heal. Mona is very strong, no denying that. I still think Rose's third skill (pick Sunbird) is the most OP in the game and honestly makes it very easy for her to solo dungeons.

Also, I went for a poly het ending twice because I was praying it'd be like the yuri one I got before and I could create boys kissing boys, just for giggles. Unfortunately this didn't work out. God hates me.

It's amusing you thought a reverse harem would give you BL, but thankfully I tend to avoid either, so I did not have to live with that disappointment haha (no denying that some of those poly endings specifically exist for the fujoshi crowd to fantasize though).
The only het poly ending I forced myself to go through is the Gwyneth and Kenneth sibling poly route. There is no way I would not get a romance ending involving Gwyneth and I perceive Ken more like... a harmless pet that comes as a set with his sister. It was a cute ending. It also helped that I got it during my Volcano Queen profession ending. It just made so much sense!

last edited at Jun 28, 2023 1:41AM

And thus ends Kinniku Taro's attempt to proliferate his lolicon fetish across the yuri community. I will never not be amused by this absurd insistence to focus on breasts that simply do not exist. Poor Hino got absolutely no focus for the mere crime of having an average grown body.
I believe he just lost all control around the the time he introduced an actual grade schooler and very randomly threw Omichi at her just to have someone validate the feelings of loving a kid, but good on him for putting the "let's wait until you grow up" clause in the "I am in love with this grade-schooler right now" legal debate.

Joking aside, this was a manga I sort of enjoyed looking forward to binging, because if you do not have to wait for updates the incredibly slow pacing actually doesn't feel that way anymore. When binging the manga it feels like incremental progress is properly made. Was the body swap arc necessary? No. Did the very sudden rush of Hino development save the manga from its repetitive slump? Yes.

Goodbye Hino-san no baka. You truly were a manga.

last edited at Jun 28, 2023 12:55AM