Visual novels have always been a part of my life for a very long time,but oddly enough it seemed like this year was the year that I bought a ton of them, and oddly enough almost all of them were translated into English.
I initially just preordered Steins;Gate the limited edition because JAST USA made it sound like the only people who were going to get a physical copy of the game (at the time when this was in golden master) were the people who jumped in and bought limited editions. So of course I went ahead and preordered a copy of the limited edition, though now there is Steins;Gate coming out for almost everything and that a standard edition of the game exists as well. Though I don't regret getting the limited edition, it looks really nice and everything. I wish that they made more of them like this, I really like the way the box looks.
Honestly though, if you haven't picked up Steins;Gate for the PC yet, or if you don't want to play VNs on your PC, there is going to be a few releases next year of the game on IOS, PS Vita, and PS3. So in 2015 no one will have an excuse to not have played a piece of otaku history.
When I was at Sakuracon in the spring I ended up buying Kara no Shoujo for the PC as well. It only happened by chance because I was just walking through the dealers hall at the convention and ended up finding the Mangagamer booth. The only thing I was kind of interested in was Kara no Shoujo so I picked it up for $50 for the limited edition of it as well. Though it was a limited edition, it's not as good looking as the Steins;Gate one. And to be honest, it was much of an impulse buy than anything else because I want more VNs to come to the US and international, I knew enough about it that it's an eroge but nothing else.
Of course after that I bought another Hakuoki game, this time for the PS3 just for the fact that I love this game series even though we end up getting the same game over and over with just added content.
I'll buy it because not only do I like the story of it being taken a part in an alternate history in Japan. There's freaking Oni and pseudo-oni people in it. And if that wasn't enough fun, then I don't know what is. But to be honest it is an Otome game and there aren't many of those existing in general; even in Japan. So I feel like I got to buy this game to boost up the numbers. But it actually is a good story, so it's a win-win situation.
Though with how niche the PS Vita is, I don't see why AKSYS hasn't gotten the copyright to release an English version of the Sweet School Life version of Hakuoki. Because who doesn't like an alternate reality where everyone in the Shinsengumi is in high school, or teaches in high school. Are you kidding that would print instant money. Seriously, every fangirl would get to live out their dream of being surrounded with cute boys doing stuff.
The last thing I have bought this year in regards to VNs was another impulse buy it was Littlewitch Romanesque released by JAST USA released on the 23rd of December. The only reason why I think I bought it was because I was on JAST USA's page and saw it was getting released this month. And to my honest surprise it was. I have the game downloaded right now on my computer but I am still waiting for my physical copy, though I just looked it up on J-list itself and saw they have addressed the problem. I don't know when I will be getting the physical one but I hope it is soon, because I want to see how the case is and I hope it is akin to the one they did for Steins;Gate.
I did get past the intro to actually save the game and I came across this cute little thing.
I really have no idea what it is, but doesn't it kind of look like a Moomin? A Moomin that looks like he's made out of chocolate...
From what I've seen so far, I like how the story is shown, with it going more for a living manga style where speech bubbles appear than just a box with text. And the voices are great so far. I am especially glad that the main male lead has a voice, as that is the number one deal breaker for me. If I play a game and the main male has no voice... It just stops me in my tracks and then makes me want to mute all the characters. Because if I hear someone talking and the response to it is just a wall of text that I am suppose to read, and then goes back to voices. It just breaks immersion. There is an all-ages version though coming to Steam via their Greenlight system, so if you're interested in the story without the eroge contents there's that for you.
I am excited for 2015 since there will be a lot more VNs on their way, including Clannad from Sekai project, and not to mention (hopefully) the release of Hanachirasu from JAST USA. Also more Steins;Gate which is good too. But most of all I am excited to see what will get the potential go from either kickstarter or from independent small groups making their own VNs. It seems as if VNs have found their way into the hearts of people outside of Japan. And I'd like for it to keep growing years down the line.
