Lurker > pyresword

Hmm, is it worth watching the first anime first?

For some reason I thought the anime series were completely separate things, but it looks like they're just adaptations of the original game and Mask of Deception?

Unless it's a good adaptation I probably don't want to bother.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

No I only vaguely know the premise. My understanding is that I can start at this point without any real issues.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

JeffreyRaze posted...

more visual novel

Just the way I like it. Why even bother playing a video game if it means I have to actually play a game?

(I generally like visual novels as much as or more than video games so that's not really an issue.)
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

To clarify I'm not going to keep this topic going if there's only like 0 or 1 people who respond. This is mostly an interest gauge for now.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

By this I mean the Mask of Deception/Truth games, since my understanding is there's a lot to this franchise.

Anyway I bought these games today partially on recommendation from a friend and partially because they seem to be popular among fans of the Trails series. I don't think I've really seen anyone on b8 talk about these games before, but I figured I'd at least check to see if anyone's interested in following along.

Also the art book that came with the first game (I got the special edition at no extra cost?) is really cool. Makes me realize that I miss when games used to come with detailed instruction manuals, since functionally this is similar in a lot of ways. (in that it shows off a lot of the characters/world and gives general descriptions of what's what.)
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

I haven't played enough to give a definitive answer, but some that I really didn't like were Tales of Berseria and Trails in the Sky The 3rd.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

From the New World
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

SNAFU

caps
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

I don't think college interviews are really a thing anymore. I applied to 5-10 schools both for undergrad and for my PhD and never once had to do an interview.

I'm sure they still exist somewhere, but I don't think it's at all common.

I will say that my applications were mostly, but not entirely to public schools. I also think I only applied to schools in the midwest or the west coast.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Clannad
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Antarctica
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

I do agree with Zea's analysis of Shirou. The fact that there's more than one route is not just for the sake of it, as it's necessary for fully developing his character and its thematic importance.

Though:
F/Z Rider > Sakura > Saber > Kiritsugu > F/SN Archer > the rest, as far as characters go.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Ok fine I'll post my 10's also.

Clannad: After Story
From the New World/Shinsekai Yori
Madoka Magica
Monogatari Series: Second Season
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Season 2
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
A Place Further Than the Universe
A Silent Voice
Steins;Gate (0 will probably also be here when it finishes)
Toradora!
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Johnbobb posted...

Renne Hayworth - 1
Renne - 1

These two are for the same character, for the record.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

I got bored halfway through the amusement park episode and never bothered to start watching again. Is anything left worthwhile to watch?

...you know what as I typed this up I realized I'm hoping you will say no so that I can feel ok to completely forget about the show, which is probably a sign I should be dropping it regardless >.>
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

There's only 3 shows I've watched that I gave a 2/10 or lower to, and those shows I don't even think I made it more than halfway through the show. If I'm willing to watch a show to completion it probably gets a rating above a 2 by definition, unless it's a case of something getting REALLY bad in the last couple of episodes (which hasn't happened to this degree yet).

For those curious, the three shows are Bokurano, ef: A Tale of Memories, and Dragonball GT. The last of those I watched like half a lifetime ago so who knows if that score is even reliable.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Not gonna put too much thought into the rest of these. Just gonna quickly nominate a bunch of stuff I like that doesn't get much appreciation. Which probably means you won't like them, so sorry.

Song: EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/.
Game: Ar Tonelico
Series: Ar Tonelico
Composer: Akiko Shikata
Link:

Song: A Dedication to...Everyone
Game: Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon
Series: Fragile Dreams
Composer: Riei Saito/Takuya Watanabe/Tsukasa Takahashi
Link:

Song: Waltz for One
Game: Shovel Knight - Plague of Shadows
Series: Shovel Knight
Composer: Jake Kaufman
Link:

Song: Skies of a Strange Land
Game: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
Series: The Legend of Heroes (Trails)
Composer: Falcom Sound Team jdk
Link:

Song: Samurai Drill!
Game: Gurumin
Series: Gurumin
Composer: Falcom Sound Team jdk
Link:

Song: Wishing for an Eternal Sky
Game: Skygunner
Series: Skygunner
Composer: Mayuko Kageshita / Shoko Omori / Tadashi Otsubo
Link:

Song: Melancholy of a Noisy Girl
Game: Little Busters!
Series: Little Busters!
Composer: PMMK
Link:
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Pablo Sanchez (Backyard Sports)
Renne Hayworth (Trails in the Sky)
Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist)
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Glad Waterfall made it into the top 10.

Not glad Spider Dance made it into the top 10.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

From the New World
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Madoka might very well be the most highly/widely praised anime TV series of all time, so I think the standard is a bit high here. At the least it's one of only a handful or so of shows in the running for that title.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Came in to vote anime but it turns out Avatar: TLA is quite an appealing option.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Oh shit a Monday game I will actually be available for.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Clannad
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Antarctica
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

I do not believe, if it's a week and a half per game.

CS1+2 alone took me like 80-100 hours each. The other games are all long in their own right, and I've been led to believe CS3 is the longest of the series. Of course I wasn't trying to rush through the games with that playtime I quoted, but in particular this is also a series I don't recommend rushing through.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Velvet Crowe (Tales of Berseria)
Sakura Matou (Fate/Stay Night)
Morgana (The House in Fata Morgana)

The last one is a bit of a sketchy inclusion since the "nice part" is exclusively in flashbacks, but I feel it works.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

For me it's less "worry" and more "cosmological certainty".

I like Velvet though, personally!
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

I wouldn't encourage rushing too hard, since I could easily envision getting burnt out with this series.

Even though I say that, I played 5 Trails games back-to-back a year ago and my only thought after finishing was "fuck the next game can't come soon enough", so...
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

I never played Xillia, but Velvet is gonna be tough to top.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

I will mention this is a distinct trope from legitimately evil characters who pretend to be nice.

Anyway I have some ideas but I'm gonna wait until i think of more.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

That being said I don't think any of us actually know how important it is. We're just going on hearsay
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

If you can read Japanese than you can just get those. I'm pretty sure the consensus among the fanbase is that Zero/Ao are the strongest entries in the series, so they're worth playing even if only for that reason I feel like.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Well at least I know the Evo versions are voiced, and my impression is that people think the voice acting is quite good.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

By the way how far into Trails in the Sky did you get? In particular did you get to the second game?
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

I generally didn't like Millium. Think she was in the bottom third of my character ranking I did after CS2 and was easily the lowest of the playable characters.

Also totally missed your character ranking 20 or so posts ago but I generally agree with that. Main difference is that I think I liked Machias more than you, but he wasn't like one of my favorites or anything either. More middle of the road. Also I'd probably put Rean in the same tier as the the ones immediately below him.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

I'm at nearly 300 shows watched and I'm pretty sure I only have ten 10/10's
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

I still haven't finished a lot of stuff yet but I'll try and post thoughts on what I have watched when I get home.

The short version is Steins;Gate 0 > HeroAca S3 >>> everything else
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

It's still working for some of us.

I'm guessing it's people that use the app instead of the website or something
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

So does anything next season actually look good? I glanced through anichart but nothing actually caught my eye.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

From the New World
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

SNAFU

caps
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Clannad
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Antarctica
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Bellossom is the only not terrible one and it's not even that great either.
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Bleh.

Guess it's better than Madoka or Steins;Gate going out though at least?
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

Oh is Madoka unsafe? Well that sucks. Hopefully round lasts for 42 moreminutes >.>
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

From the New World
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!

My teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
---

Congratulations to BK_Sheikah00, this year's guru to achieve contest enlightenment!