FAQ for VNs (and Kiseki)

VNs Listed:
Harumade, Kururu and Natsukuru, Yururu
What a Beautiful/Steampunk Series
Baldr Sky
Subarashiki Hibi
Tenshi no Hane something
Kiseki

--

Harumade, Kururu and Natsukuru, Yururu

Q: Who fucking wrote this?
A: Ryouichi "Fucking" Watanabe. Most people would know him as the writer behind Otoko Dogeza Jigoku or OMGWTFOTL. Genuflect before fucking Watanabe.

Q: Why is there "Fucking"?
A: Because Watanabe is fucking cool.

Q: Haru and Natsu... Are the works related to seasons?
A: Yes, and the upcoming game is called Akikuru.

Q: What's the beginning of Harumade, Kururu? I can't hook it.
A:
「今夜はね。今夜はあっちにあるさ。
でも、昨日の夜は……」。
女にごつごつの片手を上げ、


バリー ・ユアグロー 『憑かれた旅人』

まるきっり別の方角を指し示す。
「どうやら時間は伸縮自在で、
カンジメのように圧縮することもできれば、
複雑に祈り畳むことでもできるらしいのだ」

澁澤 龍彦 『東西不思議物語』

Q: Who the hell is Barry... How do you say that?
A: Barry Yourgrau. The book referenced is Haunted Traveler: An Imaginary Memoir. http://www.amazon.com/Haunted-Traveler-Imaginary-Barry-Yourgrau/dp/1559704829/ref=la_B000AQTI8O_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408181145&sr=1-6

Q: What does the end of Natsukuru, Yururu reference to?
A: A passage from Robert H. Heinlein's The Door into Summer.

Q: Watanabe sounds like he's fucking well-read. Does he read a lot?
A: Yeah, he sure fucking did. He read On the Origin of Species by fucking Charles Darwin -- you know, the book that proposed the fucking theory of evolution -- for HaruKuru. And you fucking know what? He decided to not fucking use any of the concepts in the fucking book. Also, he blogged quite a lot and one of his posts is a list of books he borrowed from the library: http://hanpamania-soft.com/2011/01/post_129.html; most of these books are really fucking obscure.

Q: Does he have a twitter account?
A: He sure fucking does! https://twitter.com/watanaberyoichi

Eden*

Q: HOW TO DEFEAT GAIJINLOCK
A: https://mega.co.nz/#!aFVlyYhA!I79OoD2ews15ej9wXFJ7-n74R6MG_Ut4aDuhNB4JNWM

What a Beautiful/Steampunk Series

Q: Who wrote this visual novel series?
A: Hikaru Sakurai.

Q: She strangely reads like Hagenaya from Demonbane. Coincidence?
A: Actually, Sakurai is inspired by Demonbane! She found the episodic writing style intriguing and often applies it in her visual novels. Starting from Sona-nyl, her fight scenes has gradually become chuu2 and reads very similar to Hagenaya. It has gone so far that Gahkthun's fandisk is actually written by him in fact! It seems that they are dating as seen on their Twitter conversations, which is filled with flirting. Hagenaya has also referenced Sona-nyl in one of his LNs.

Q: How hard is the What a Beautiful/Steampunk Series?
A: Your mileage may vary. It depends on how well you can adapt to her writing. Someone who has read Dies Irae fumbled with some of her prose and her plots can be kinda confusing. Starting from Valusia, the game has dictionary entries that are worth reading and these cannot be hooked. Sona-nyl, in particular, does not try to explain anything and has a minigame where you read a newspaper and click on a passage that is false -- you cannot hook the text in the minigame.

Q: May I have a sample of Sakurai?
A: From Sona-nyl -- enjoy: http://pastebin.com/PYsEQ3GE, http://pastebin.com/8hhez1Es

Q: Does she have a Twitter account?
A: Yes and it's adorbs: https://twitter.com/h_sakura.

Baldr Sky

Q: Help, I've been spoiled about X!
A: First, that's not a question. Second, it is impossible to spoil Baldr Sky. You would need to write an essay detailing everything. Most people who do get spoiled are one-sixth spoiled. Most spoilers floating about are worse than half-truths.

Q: How difficult are the fighting segments?
A: Depends on how you adapt to the game. You can change difficulty levels anyway. We recommend making a melee combo ASAP if you want to beat the game.

Q: How should I install Baldr Sky?
A: Install Dive1, then Dive2. Every time you play Baldr Sky, use Dive2. It will automatically link the two games together. Use Dive2's latest patch too.

Q: Are there any text referenced that I should check out?
A: http://ask.fm/kastelpls/answer/110848539614

Q: What is Baldr Force?
A: It's the predecessor to Baldr Sky and is written by the same writer. Unlike Sky which is very minimalist, it is peculiarly wordy. Many readers recommend playing the PS2 remake first before playing Sky because it boasts shinier graphics and better voice acting and that people will get spoiled from Sky's battle system. However, for most  Japanese learners, that will be impossible because it will require them to say goodbye to text hookers.

Q: Do I have to play the PS2 version of Baldr Force?
A: Yes. In the words of a zombie, "get the ps2 version or poo". Else, "you end up with poo".

Q: Does Baldr Sky Zero have anything to do with Sky?
A: It's a prequel to Sky; however, it is not written by the writer and contradicts certain plot elements in Sky. You can call it a fanfic. Also, the battle system has been tinkered with because people thought Sky was too tough and this makes the game rather unenjoyable to play.

Q: Who is the miko?
A: Makoto.

Subarashiki Hibi

Q: Do I have to be a philosophy wizard to play this game?
A: No, but you'll want to google some stuff. If you've gone to high school and done this thing called research, then you're all set.

Q: Who wrote this?
A: SCA-JI. https://twitter.com/sca_di

Q: Are there any hard parts in Subarashiki Hibi?
A: The Kenji Miyazawa segment in Rabbit Hole 1 is a weird; it appears in the end of the chapter and may cause utter confusion. I suggest looking up Night of the Galactic Railroad. There are also philosophy infodump including a Nassim Taleb one (refer Black Swan theory on Wikipedia). But that's very few compared to the whole game. It's similar to how Baldr Sky has technical infodumps on the verse.

Q: Rabbit Hole 1 is boring.
A: Read Rabbit Hole 2. Also, Rabbit Hole 1 is really funny once you finish the game.

Q: Can I skip ero?
A: Yes, a good chunk of SubaHibi is basically pointless ero. So CTRL at will. People who've read SubaHibi did find some of Invention's h-scenes really amusing. Insects is pretty much ero forever; however, Dolphy seems to find them important. I guess he fapped to that.

Q: Is SubaHibi any relation to the upcoming game, Sakura no Uta?
A: No, it might share its themes though.

Q: Are all the endings worth getting?
A: Yes. Also, the decision point for the Subarashiki Hibi, Himawari something, and Tsui no Sora 2 appear in Jabberwocky 1. You are expected to save there, CTRL through Jabberwocky 1 AND Jabberwocky 2. You can skip And Which Dreamed It.

Q: I'd like to reread RH1. Is there a way?
A: Besides the RH1 on the chapter selection screen, choose Jabberwocky 2. You will see why this is a nifty thing.

Tenshi no Hane

http://shindds.main.jp/dds/sided/feature/dictionary/ma.htm

百合　　Ｌｉｌｉｅ　リーリエ

菖蒲　　Ｓｃｈｗｅｒｔｌｉｌｉｅ　シュヴェーアトリーリエ

菊　　　　Ｃｈｒｙｓａｎｔｈｅｍｅ　クリュザンテーメ

椿　　　　Ｋａｍｅｌｉｅ　　カメーリエ

水仙　　Ｎａｒｚｉｓｓｅ　　ナイツィッセ

シクラメン　Ａｌｐｅｎｖｅｉｌｃｈｅｎ　アルオエンファイルヒェン

カーネーション　Ｎｅｌｋｅ　　ネルケ

スイートピー　Ｇａｒｅｔｎｗｉｃｋｅ　ゲルテンヴィッケ

蘭　　　　Ｏｒｃｈｉｄｅｅ　オルヒデー

Kiseki

Q: Does Kiseki mean miracles?
A: Not in this case. You are thinking of 奇跡. The game series is titled 軌跡 and no, it does not just mean trails.

Q: How easy/hard is Kiseki?
A: Sora no Kiseki has nothing special in terms of vocabulary, but it is lengthy. Starting from Zero, the series begins to be verbose and frequently uses non-jouyou kanji without any furigana. And they are longer than Sora games.

Q: How intense is the vocabulary?
A: I'll let the words explain the vocabulary level needed (also note that this is not furigana'd): 緩衝地帯, 瀟洒, 凱旋, 別嬪, 忖度, 齟齬.

Q: Are the Kiseki games in any way related to Eiyuu Densetsu?
A: Kiseki is a subseries unrelated to the franchise. It's similar to how Persona is a subseries in Shin Megami Tensei.

Q: Can you hook the Sora games?
A: Yes, refer to this site for hook codes http://www.cprogramdevelop.com/4609645/ and note that this will only work with AGTH.

Q: Do I have to live in Japan and read works for three years to play Kiseki?
A: No, if you have the dedication to look up everything, then Kiseki is good for you.

Q: What versions of Zero and Ao should I go for?
A: Definitely the Evo for PS Vita.

Q: Can I watch Ao no Kiseki Evolution's OP?
A: NO IT IS BASICALLY A GIANT SPOILER BY FALCOM