Visual Novels

[BoneSnapDeez]

Yeah that's my one complaint about Steins;Gate. Getting the true ending isn't exactly intuitive at all.

However, once you know how to do it, it isn't especially difficult.

As a side note, many of the Steins;Gate guides I see online are extremely complicated. That's because they're designed to show the reader how to get 100% achievements or trophies, which is something else altogether.

[ZRofel]

Yeah that's my one complaint about Steins;Gate. Getting the true ending isn't exactly intuitive at all.

However, once you know how to do it, it isn't especially difficult.

As a side note, many of the Steins;Gate guides I see online are extremely complicated. That's because they're designed to show the reader how to get 100% achievements or trophies, which is something else altogether.

Would you recommend going through with a guide the first time, or just seeing where I wind up? I really don't like the idea of essentially reading a book that I need another book to get the most out of (unless it's, y'know, some dense academic text), but I also don't want to miss huge chunks of content.

[BoneSnapDeez]

NEVER use a guide the first time playing a route-based VN. It's totally clunky and ruins the suspense. Thankfully, most VNs have fast-forward features and multiple saves so it's really easy to "hop back in" to search for a new ending, without having to start over.

The first few Steins;Gate endings are somewhat "easy" to get, as you're essentially choosing whether to end the game or keep going at a given spot (though this may be not be obvious the first time, it will be obvious every subsequent time). The final two endings are of the mutually exclusive variety, where you'll get locked into one and thus can't get the other. And vice versa, once an old saved is reloaded and different choices are made. It's not nearly as complicated as I'm making it sound. The game's really quite relaxing.

[BoneSnapDeez]

For anyone who's interested, Shuffle! is going to be removed from Steam on the 31st.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/537100/Shuffle/

[ElkinFencer10]

For anyone who's interested, Shuffle! is going to be removed from Steam on the 31st.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/537100/Shuffle/

Tempting, but being a console guy, I'd honestly rather play the PS2 version. Is there a compelling reason to get it on Steam now rather than playing eventually on PS2?

[BoneSnapDeez]

Isn't the PS2 version in Japanese?

[ElkinFencer10]

I finished Muv-Luv photonmelodies♮ last night although I still need to go back through for the rest of the achievements. Posted my review in Games Beaten.

Isn't the PS2 version in Japanese?

Oh shit, you're right. The Wikipedia article was vague on that, but I dug deeper, and you're right, it only released in English on PC. Damn...now I have to decide if it's worth spending the money...

[BoneSnapDeez]

If you miss it on Steam, there is indeed a physical PC version in English:

[Nemoide]

I regret not buying the MangaGamer physical release back in the day, but also I'm comfortable living a life in which I never play Shuffle. I've already got multiple VNs in my backlog that I haven't been bothering with, most notably Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two and Clannad. Plus there's Da Capo which I only ever played through one path of and should get back into...

[ElkinFencer10]

I FINALLY got the last of the wallpapers and CGIs I needed to finish the last achievement in Muv-Luv photonmelodies tonight. That's all four games I have every achievement for.