Visual Novel Book Club // Now reading: ISLAND

Indeed most visual novels you can play on an old pc just fine. In many cases you don’t even need to fulfill the minimum requirements to run a game.

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Here is my nomination that I think would be a good choice :smile:

キラキラモンスターズ

Developer: WhitePowder
VNDB Play Time: 5h57m
VNDB Link: Kirakira Monstars | vndb

Summary

This is Saint Aria, a big city in the human world.

The vampire girl “Venedict” came to this city after receiving a mysterious invitation (and getting thrown out by her sister)! She’s joined by the fluffy werewolf Arisa, the dreamy demon Eve, and the mild-mannered Fran, and they decide to share a house!

These modern-day monster girls are on a rampage in the human world, and they’ll always be close and have lots of laughs! The cutest yuri comedy visual novel in the world!

It’s Kira Kira Monsters Showtime!

Availability

Kirakira Monstars on Steam .

https://www.dlsite.com/soft/work/=/product_id/VJ013471.html .

Personal Opinion

The art is really nice and the game is fully voiced, including the MC. The game appears to be split up into 10 chapters per Steam’s achievement list, so that can be an easy way to track progress for all of us. Based on VNBD’s estimated playtime, it is relatively short too so in case people aren’t too into the story, it won’t take long to finish. I tested out the first 10 or so minutes on Steam and the game worked fine & I could texthook it.

Pros and Cons for the Book Club

Pros

  • Shorter game
  • Can texthook the game
  • Available on Steam
  • Fully voiced
  • The vocabulary should be relatively simple given the premise

Cons

  • I don’t know anyone who has played this so I can’t verify any estimated difficulty
  • There is a small clip in the beginning that you are unable to texthook since it just gives subtitles while the clip is going. It is very small part of the game but can’t pause the clip or anything to look up things.
  • Not a con for me but maybe for others - it is a comedy game so there might not be a plot to keep you overly engaged. Most of the games made by this company are usually crazy in the comedy department so it might be a pro or con depending on your tastes.
  • There is only a PC version available.

Pictures

Screenshots

Difficulty Poll

How much effort would you need to read this book?

  • No effort at all
  • Minimal effort
  • Moderate effort
  • Significant effort
  • So much effort my head might explode
  • I don’t know

0 voters

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I did see that one. The only thing I don’t like is that it doesn’t have a background for the text. Maybe it’s an option?

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Reply - VNs on Switch

To not hijack this book club, have you somewhere written a post about some VNs on Switch you would recommend? Also, are they mostly purchasable in the JP nintendo eshop, or also available in other ones? I guess I fall under the EU one. I could always buy physical from Japan if they’ve been released as physical. If there is no good place to answer me, feel free to reply in my study log so as not to clutter this thread. (I feel like I’m promoting my study log, but that isn’t my intention. Promise. :cold_sweat:)

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From what I checked in the text settings, there is no option to have a background for the text. The closest thing they had was this

image

image

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Yeah, that’s basically what I meant.

I know it obstructs the images, but I don’t like floating text if I can avoid it.

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I haven’t! I’ll just reply here, I think it’s fine since it’s on topic anyway. ^^

Summary

So, I haven’t played that many on the switch yet, but I’ve looked at a lot to put into my wish list for when they go on sale some day. XD I used to play a lot on vita before I learned Japanese, so I might still be able to recommend some older ones if you want. Just let me know what you’re interested in~

There’s a lot of ports that combine multiple editions or add some extra content from PC or vita games. Some are on the eu shop as well, but a lot are sadly only available from the Japanese eShop. :frowning_face: if you want I can share a bit of my eu shop wish list?

You can easily make an additional account to shop from the Japanese eShop (and still play with your original account!)… The issue is paying. the eShop doesn’t accept my German Visa Card or my German PayPal account. I’m not sure if that’s because they’re also connected to my German/eu account or because they’re European themselves. Before, i could still add money to my account via the japanese 3ds i own that was connected to the same Japanese account, because that would accept my visa card. But I believe they stopped support for the 3ds eShop or something…?

I know you spent some time in Japan - if you know someone in Japan, the easiest option might be to have them buy you an eShop card and forward them the money. They sell eShop cards on amazon.jp, but it says they sell only to people in Japan. I haven’t tested whether it’s enough to have a Japanese address; if so, that would be the even easier option.

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No promises this nomination will be chosen, but it’s half off ($10USD) on steam for the next couple days if you’re interested in reading it!

# マルコと銀河竜

Developer: TOKYOTOON
VNDB Play Time: 6h39m
VNDB Link: Marco to Ginga Ryuu | vndb

Summary

Marco, an orphan with missing memories, and Arco, a dragon who rules the galaxy, were hunting for treasure in space! On one of their adventures, Marco was given a clue to the whereabouts of her mother.
Their next stop, her birthplace - Earth!

Availability

Steam
Nintendo Store, Switch version

Personal Opinion

I’ve been meaning to try this one for a bit, was debating it as my own short palette cleanser between long VNs sometime. It’s voiced, very well reviewed, and features extremely high production values. Like, new CGs practically every line. Parts of it have been compared to essentially watching a cartoon, so it has a bit of a different style at times from your average “anime-like” VN, though it does have that art style frequently too. People make it sound like a fun space adventure.

Pros and Cons for the Book Club

Pros

  • Voiced
  • Available on both Steam and Nintendo Switch
  • I’ve verified texthooking works (in the beginning anyway)
  • Allows for on the fly language swap or even dual-language simultaneously
  • While I can’t guarantee reading difficulty, it’s a 4/10 on jpdb with a low average sentence length and I’ve seen a few people recommend it as a chill early read.
  • Reviews and ratings are pretty glowing everywhere

Cons

  • While I think the plot has a serious overall core, I get the impression it can be a bit… zany? Maybe an offputting tone for some, hard to say.
  • There’s definitely no sexual content, but the VNDB images include a few rather gratuitous bits of “fanservice” so there might be a bit of that in a potentially offputting way for some?
  • There are apparently a few minigames, which I get the impression are tiny and not a big deal, but for people who want pure reading it might be a minor annoying diversion.
  • There are animated segments, and thanks to AzusaChan’s help I know at least the first of them involves some dialog. These parts are likely to not work with the texthooker and will function more as listening practice (though the quick language options should cover you for those just looking to read or needing help).

Pictures

Screenshots

Difficulty Poll

How much effort would you need to read this book?

  • No effort at all
  • Minimal effort
  • Moderate effort
  • Significant effort
  • So much effort my head might explode
  • I don’t know

0 voters

10 Likes

I read this one back when it originally came out in English. It does have a plot to it but otherwise yeah, it is one of those games with some crazy comedy in it. Best way I could describe it is like a mix of Excel Saga + FLCL if people have seen those anime. It was a very fun read though, I liked it a lot. It had me laughing throughout.

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Thanks for chiming in on how it reads! Hopefully it’s not terribly offputting to you to possibly reread it. At least this is the short VN round, haha.

I really appreciate everyone addings comments or nominations, and especially more tips on making VNDB work for me @Kazzeon .

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You put in English screenshots, but Japanese ones can be found on Steam, then change display language to Japanese.

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Oh ok thanks, got things to do now but maybe I can swap those later! I just used VNDB (mostly, though I wanted one with the more cartoon style so I did a quick google search) and all theirs are in English.

Oh and for what it’s worth, there aren’t many places for VN discussion so I’m happy with this being kind of a hub for that sort of thing, too! Beyond me doing a quick scrape for nomination posts later, more thread activity only helps!

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Nintendo eShop stuff

@Belerith Good to know. I didn’t know you could use accounts from different regions. I suppose that probably means setting up two profiles, but that’s easy. It probably won’t take my payment options either. But yeah, might have people who can help me or figure it out somehow.

I’d love it.

My entertainment preferences for VNs, books and such (aka genre, etc.)

As for what I’m looking for, it would probably be similar to what I look for in all my entertainment. Not a tragedy/sad ending (I mean like sad true ending, I get multiple route VNs will have “bad” and sad and all kinds of such endings, but if I play all the way to the true ending, I don’t want to be hit with a sad ending basically), I’m okay with a bit of melancholy. It isn’t like it has to be happily every after, or all sunshine and roses. It can be “everything kinda sucks right now but the future looks bright”.

Otherwise I lean more fantasy than SF. Although for VNs, the everyday modern world sounds great (since that is where my Japanese vocabulary is strongest at the moment), but preferably higher ages than high school when possible; unsurprisingly I have a lot of school related stuff already. :joy:

Historical VNs would be great except I probably won’t get around to them for a while. :sweat_smile: And I prefer handsome gentlemen over pretty girls (when it comes to romance stuff); but I read it all: hetero, yuri, yaoi/BL, all kinds of romantic/partner relationships.

Why do I feel like I just put in a personal ad? :joy:

Edit: Should probably mention I like the mystery genre since there are such VNs.

… … I never saw much of that anime, but I saw a few episodes quite early in my anime watching and well… it was a bit weird. :joy: Did not work as an early introduction to anime for me (but then neither did Spirited Away, not until I started understand Japanese media/culture better). Was it a motorcycle that grew out of someone’s forehead after they were hit with an electric guitar? Or something like that? I remember feeling like I was in a fever dream. :joy:

Also Excel Saga… What a mix. :exploding_head: (I always did want to see more of that, no matter how zany it is. I wonder if it is available at a streaming service like Netflix or Crunchyroll… Probably not :joy: )

At least I can be happy that for once, I had seen episodes from two anime referenced, when usually I would have seen nothing of either. :joy:

:+1:

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Haha yeah, that is FLCL. A fever dream is a good way to describe it :joy: But those two anime were ones that I kept thinking of when I played Marco, its one of those games that you’ll either love or hate depending on your tastes. I’ve seen people compare it to the Panty & Stocking anime as well but I haven’t seen it so I can’t say for sure.

As for Switch VNs, I haven’t played any myself but I hear this one is really nice. I would have nominated it if it had a PC port tbh Kanda Alice mo Suiri Suru. | vndb although it is a high school setting and you said you didn’t want one, so maybe not the best for me to rec

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More specifically I would prefer older protagonists, but it is Japanese media we’re talking about. :joy: The land of stories set in school. I’m not opposed. Just would be cool to find some media outside that setting. ^^

I’d rather have heartfelt recommendations than stick strictly to my preferred taste. The only exception being with tragic/bummer/sad (true) endings, because RL is too full of that already.

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I can’t commit to a book club but I absolutely love VNs so I might drop in from time to time.

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Oh yeah, it’s frustratingly hard to avoid that when you want to. VNs about adults are out there but… not that many. And while this isn’t exactly a VN, when will Atlus finally grant my wish for a Persona game in which we finally leave school and play a salaryman? :upside_down_face:


@AzusaChan By the way, it occurred to me, I hear Marco has some animated portions. Do you recall if there are ever straight up video portions that are voiced? I’d update my post with that as another potential negative / thing to be aware of if we’re going to get that sort of real time, likely unhookable dialog. My impression is it would be a minority either way so likely not a big deal, but just in case.

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I haven’t gotten too far into VNs on Switch yet but I would definitely recommend setting up a JP eShop account because it’s quite straightforward and there are some pretty lengthy demos for quality games that you can try for free!

Ones I’ve personally tried with demos that I’d recommend are:
ジャックジャンヌ (JackJeanne) - game about an all-boys theatre school where they play both male and female roles
Bustafellows - otome VN/crime drama set in a city similar to New York
Blue Reflection Tie - technically an RPG but the demo is very story heavy, pretty easy reading

And one which I haven’t played yet:
探偵撲滅 - some sort of 推理ゲーム mystery problem solving, serious Danganronpa vibes

Also worth mentioning that the NA Switch version of AI: The Somnium Files has a JP language option (has a demo as well; not sure about the EU version). There are loads more games with demos though so if you just want to read something in Japanese on Switch, there’s lots you can explore for free. Sometimes I also find that games with no demo for the English version have demos in Japanese for some reason.

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I can’t remember how many animated parts are voiced but I do know in the very beginning there is a decent length animated part with lots of dialogue. Oddly enough, you can turn on English subs for it but there are no jp subs available.

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@Daisoujou Oh man, I want a post-high school Persona game SO BADLY :sob: That was originally the plan for Persona 5 and I will continue to pine for it. I read a lot of otome stuff in part because it’s very easy to find ones about adult characters with jobs. I started a mobile one the other day where the main guy is 35 :astonished: Adult characters in games, what a concept.

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