Harlequin

What a mess with that FHA business... Well, no reason to get excited. It can wait some more like everything else.

Nice to see Sekai Project doing really well for themselves with those kickstarters.

Even better if you actually want some QUALITY to it. Such as - not interrupt any of the voice acting and make the transition from each sentence to the next as smooth as possible, while also making sure that there's enough of a pause so that slower readers gets a better chance to catch it all. Depending on how long the scene is, you'll have to sit there and do it perfectly for X minutes while not getting interrupted by anything. If you get interrupted in any way, you might end up getting a long pause in the video or something, or you might screw up accidently and interrupt a voiced line. That will ruin some of the quality... And you don't want to just edit it out, because that will look and sound bad as well. The only times you can take a break is when the music stops and when the screen goes black/white for a scene transition. I did this stuff for some Umineko videos. It does get easier once you've done it a few times, but those longer scenes (30+ minutes.......) can be pretty annoying. It is nice to have videos like this on YouTube though. Easy way to experience some memorable scenes all over again without needing to start up the VN itself. But yea it should have some quality then. As far as image and sound quality goes, it should be as close to the game itself as possible. Because.... ... why the fuck not?

I'm not gonna tell you anything about the plot. Instead, just see for yourself what it's like. That's for the best. Simply jump into it.

Higurashi should be quite interesting for you... for obvious reasons. Though admittedly it would've been even better if you had read it before Umineko. Well it's very, very good in general anyway. At times, both Higurashi and Higanbana can feel similar to Umineko - probably because of the writing style itself. However their stories are still very different. So you won't get the same kind of experience as in Umineko. Still, they're good. Really good. So you should definitely read both of them. Higurashi is the most important for you right now because hey, it's When They Cry 1 & 2. You've just finished When They Cry 3 & 4.

^ The routes all have their own unique endings, yes. So it's worth going through them even though Haru's is the best one by far. You could use this walkthrough to make it easy.

[spoiler=Grisaia Meikyuu/Rakuen, badass Sachi CG]http://i.imgur.com/KDgwOsO.jpg Found it while looking for Sachi pictures. It probably does count as a spoiler, but it's essentially just a badass and awesome picture of Sachi. I didn't really care about it being a spoiler or not when I first saw it, simply because it's... well... not surprising. After all, Sachi is the best (hentai) maid there ever was. So this is just par for the course. Well I put it in a spoiler box regardless.

That really doesn't look like an OELVN either. :S At least I wouldn't have guessed it just by seeing the pictures.

Finished Steins;Gate earlier today. Holy shit man, I can now see why people like it so much. Why it's so popular. Well, the anime contributes to that, but the VN is at #2 on VNDB right now... sooo yea. Actually I think the anime is at #2 on MAL as well. It's very easy to get into. This is the kind of story that I'd recommend to people who aren't used to VNs. Really fits that bill. And it also happens to be really, really good in general, so that's a sweet combination. I kinda wish I had read it earlier myself, although after seeing the entire thing... it's not a big deal. Because it ended being awesome either way. One thing I have to say about S;G that I don't usually see a lot of people pointing out, is that it has soooooooooo much tear-inducing stuff in it. A surprising amount. It made me tear up so many friggin' times. And that to me is one of the absolute strongest points about it. Emotional scenes. The drama. There's more to it than just that of course (like mystery and TIME TRAVEL elements), but it's worth pointing out I think. Well besides that, you have the obvious things like amazing and hilarious characters, the plot as a whole, the music (a few very good songs), the little extras such as achievements and TIPS. It certainly adds up. Characters like Kurisu and Okabe are damn good and memorable. They all are pretty much... but hey, you gotta have some favourites by the end right? Mine are Kurisu, Okabe, Faris and Amane... and yes, Daru is hilarious. Oh and the main theme music is brilliant. It's so perfect, because it just screams "STEIN'S GATE!". That's what a main theme should be like, right? That song and OP1 I guess are my favourites. Plus some others. Didn't get 100% of all the achievements. Or not yet anyway. If someone tells me that it's definitely worth getting then I guess I will. What else... ... ... just, S;G was fantastic. Loved it. In my top 5 now, almost certainly. I have to admit though, it's getting pretty tough to point out "top 5's" and whatnot. Because now I've read quite a few VNs that I think are amazing. But yea, S;G is up there somewhere at the top for sure. It's really memorable. A lot of it is thanks to the characters. That's how it usually is with these top tier titles. [spoiler=Steins;Gate] This is the choice of Steins;Gate. http://i.imgur.com/Eda0jtH.jpg

Hmm? Koestl says he's working on something official now for MG/JAST or whatever. Doesn't mean he couldn't pick up Meikyuu (again) and Rakuen later. Doom and gloom. Doom and gloom.

Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni - Dai Ichi Ya. (first part of Higanbana) Man, that was really good. I absolutely love Ryukishi's other work (Higurashi, Umineko), so I came into this with some expectations, you know? And it most definitely met those expectations... actually no, it went above them. So the same thing has happened now with every 07th Expansion title I've read. It's remarkable. Ryukishi simply does not fail to blow my mind every time I read one of these VNs. Twists and turns man, twists and turns and craziness. Maybe I'm too stupid to predict many of turns and whatnot, but that's fine then, more fun for me right? It's just like a rollercoaster with these titles. And Higanbana was no exception for me. Unlike Higurashi and Umineko however, Higanbana is not really an "epic tale". It's not really much of a journey per se. Not a long one at least. It's more like delving into a number of very specific themes/topics/issues, more or less all of which happen to be quite dark, serious and often times depressing. To name a few: Bullying, suicide, truth, lies. And they're all presented in short stories that take place in the same environment. It's interesting stuff. I really, really like it. It's not really a mystery VN, but Higanbana makes you think a lot about these issues. It forces you to, pretty much. Juuuust brilliant. Now, I have to say: your life and how you have lived certain periods of it, does change how much you feel about some of the things Higanbana presents. Maybe that's obvious, but I felt the need to say it. Because it definitely changed my experience with the last chapter (7) A LOT - which probably is my favourite one by the way, along with chapter 1, 3 and 5. Without saying too much about it, there's a plenty of fun to be had as well. Or maybe that's the wrong word for it... there's plenty of crazy to be had. Reminds a bit of Higurashi and Umineko that way. I guess it's to be expected huh. Oh, and I also need to point out that the music makes a HUGE difference in some scenes. Perhaps the soundtrack is not as amazing as Higurashi Kai's or Umineko's (emphasis on Umineko), but damnit it's still really good. A few very effective creepy songs for the atmosphere, and a few that really makes you sad (obviously a positive thing when it's combined with a matching scene). Three of my favourites - [spoiler=Higanbana music] [spoiler=Higanbana chapter 7]A little story of sorts I gotta share, that is a bit different and special compared to the rest of my experience with the VN. Something that happened in this last chapter of Higanbana: At some point, in chapter 7, it got really emotional for me. Bullying is such a sad thing. And personally, I was sort of in the bottom hierarchy in school for several years, just like Yukari and Reiko. Was I really bullied? It's hard to say now. Maybe I was. In fact I probably was at times, but I either laughed it off or I ignored. Like Reiko and Yukari did, pretty much. Because of this, I ended up relating to what was going on during the last parts of this chapter. When Reiko arrived, When Yukari stopped being bullied, but Reiko "took the baton" instead. When Higanbana and Yukari started talking about bullying and "utopia" (I loved that talk, and coupled with the music it was amazing). All of that got me really distressed - if that's the right word for it. It felt real. It was so easy for me to relate to it. For sure, these things happen in real life as well. I've seen it and most likely experienced it as well. Fast forward a tiny bit - Yukari decided to stand up for Reiko and not accept this supposed "utopia" that had been created. That was the right thing to happen and not totally unexpected. I kept thinking to myself; "Help your FRIEND." And that's what happened. At this point I was pretty much crying... it was more than just tearing up at least. Kept going like that when Reiko and Yukari decided to walk home together again. Reiko starts crying once she realizes that she doesn't have to be nourishment or a sacrifice for other peoples enjoyment. Yukari starts talking about fighting against bullying with her. Everything is good now and as it should be. I'm still high on the "emotionally distressed" scale. And then... Ryukishi. Trolling. ... No reflection? Crazy laugh? Creepy face. Completely taken in. Hook, line, and sinker. I can't believe what had just happened. My mind was not even REMOTELY ready for that. Why? Because my mind was very busy being all serious, sad and happy about what had just happened previously. AND THEN SUMIRE. You know I don't even need to say more than that. You can tell what I'm trying to point out here. That transition was fucking amazing. However, I have a feeling that it wasn't quite like that for many people who read this chapter. Because you do need that "emotional distress" before reaching Sumire's reveal, I feel. Anyway, that's that. To me, that segment was brilliant. From Reiko's arrival all the way to the end of chapter 7 was really great. By the way, those three songs I linked above were part of the reason why this segment (and the VN as a whole of course) was great to me. The first song - very sad. Second one - thought-provoking, serious and sad (Higanbana, the character, is good at that). Third song - ........ holy shit.

I love this one so much. http://i.imgur.com/vmQTVId.jpg

Looks pretty interesting to me tbh. Just from the little information about it on VNDB and the blog post though.

[video=youtube;u-eMgk50y5k]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-eMgk50y5k

The difficulty settings don't mean that much. It won't change up the gameplay dramatically for you or anything, if you've already gone through it once before. Best to just go with that difficulty on your first playthrough. Anyway, yea, it's easy. These types of mystery games usually tend to be quite easy. But that doesn't really stop them from being entertaining however.

+1. Over the top is the right way to put it. It's a lot of fun. And that's simply how games like Phoenix Wright, Ghost Trick and Danganronpa are. Over the top while still having interesting stories and fun characters., and they're all easy to get into.

You should try Tsubasa as well if you haven't already. It's the better fandisc, in my opinion. (Not all stories in it are translated though, but who knows when/if they ever will be)

Hard to say... There's Higurashi, in that the anime certainly is a lot more popular than the visual novel, which is quite unfortunate. Of course the series as a whole is very popular, but a lot of that comes from the anime. :/ And it's worse than the VN. But other than that I might say Forest as well. It's a really strange VN that you'll either love or hate I'd say, and I have this feeling that not enough people give it a chance.

How much did you like it?

That looks lovely.

Mystery, Psychological, Horror. Certainly enjoy other stuff too but those are at the top.

To start reading (the first) Higanbana right now, or to not start reading Higanbana right now... that is the question.