Muv Luv

... I totally didn't get that Sumika/Kasumi anagram till right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjBRNqwDPrU

It's a bit of a stretch though; Kasumi is apparently written with only one kanji and Sumika with two. And I'm not sure if Kasumi's last name is a kanji anagram of Sumika's last name. But even in Japanese, Kasumi and Sumika should be anagrams when written in hiragana.

Finally finished with Muv-Luv. It's... unsatisfying, to say the least.

On the other hand, at least the writing sounds well-researched, and I rather liked Unlimited before the tenth day. The world-building parts were pretty cool.

Will be starting Alternative later tonight or tomorrow, once it finishes downloading.

edited 5th May '12 1:07:23 AM by LiberatedLiberater

I believe the difference between the two is

Unlimited: The world is in chaos and a war is going on! Check out the pretty girls!
Alternative: The world is in chaos and a war is going on! Oh god it's horrible we're dropping like flies.

Never did get around to alternative, though, but Unlimited is generally just viewed as being okay rather than great.

While Muv Luv Alternative is my favorite VN as of now, that's because I love mecha and I'm a Military Brat (though I don't plan on joining myself)

Even in MLA, there are pacing issues and Info Dumps with Techno Babble. Oh, and don't forget the overflowing nationalism

That said, the positives trump the negatives by a long shot even if the negatives are still prominent.

edited 5th May '12 8:37:41 AM by encrypted12345

Welp, looks like Alternative has to wait. CRC Checksum error. Sigh.

Like I said, I don't mind infodumps and technobabble. I didn't mind them in Unlimited, at least. In any case, I'm excited to see Alternative build on Unlimited's setting.

encrypted12345,

As you've finished Alternative, have the Chicken Divers sidestory (the only one fully translated - someone's still going through translating Unlimited: The Day After).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&v=nLml-ANIRjo

Spoilers for Alternative, of course.

Edit: Also, if you are interested, try going through Extra with the knowledge you have from Alternative. Also notice that Takemikazuchi which has been in the background of the main menu screen the whole time since you first started up Extra.

Liberated Liberater,

About the troll spoilers on 4chan /vn/ threads, it's one of the reasons I prefer /m/ for ML/A discussion; they're a lot more respectful with spoiler-tagging. /a/ too, sometimes, but then again I feel many of the ML thread posters there seem to be /m/ regulars too.

edited 7th May '12 2:11:35 AM by HithertoAnIPAddress

I've got two hours of free time now so I've decided to dust off my copy of Muv Luv so I can get on to Alternative. Let's do this shit.

... my synapses are atrophying. This isn't even in So Bad, It's Good territory. The geography looks more like So Bad It's Incomprehensible, an Atlantis of brain-melting beyond the reach of ordinary men.

I read Muv Luv while in a channel full of people I could make fun of it to. It made things better when I could snark.

Finally starting on Alternative. My god, these production values! It feels like instead of a VN, I'm watching an anime movie with subs. But lol that Engrish. Looks like I didn't waste all those brain cells on Muv-Luv after all!

edited 8th May '12 3:11:07 AM by LiberatedLiberater

Wow, this game. I can't believe how much better it is compared to Muv-Luv. I'm currently at the part where Takeru talks to Kasumi after crossing back to the SOL!Muv-Luv world. And amazing curveball they threw. I seriously thought that Kasumi is more related to Sumika, but I guess not. But then again, I'm only probably around 1/3 of my way through the novel or something.

Ufufufu.

The best part of Muv Luv Alternative is the final battle, but the battles leading up to it are all awesome as well. Once you're out of that arc, you'll be about half-way through the game. Brace yourself!

I'm at the coup d'etat arc. God, I've never felt this tense about watching political unrest before. I'm a little overwhelmed at how much this game has covered these past few hours, from quantum physics to nationalism. I guess they really did go all-out on its production.

edited 8th May '12 8:59:21 AM by LiberatedLiberater

Meiya shall be officially known as Fem!Hoshi to me. Her face... makes it really hard for me to take her seriously. The art of Muv Luv is not exactly praiseworthy but Meiya takes the cake.

Actually, why is Extra the first game that you have to play before all the others? Seems to me that it'd be better off as a fandisk.

edited 8th May '12 9:29:28 AM by Thrombin

Muv Luv Alternative makes very important references to Extra. Just by playing Extra and Unlimited, it's hard to see how it ties in, but half-way through Alternative, it'll make sense.

Not sure how one could reference Extra unironically in a non-comical manner but I guess I'll take your word for it.

I'll back him up on it. Extra may be comically bad, but it has a lot of stuff that'll be important later on in Unlimited and Alternative. I recommend CTRL-ing through the lacrosse arc; there really isn't anything valuable there. Oh, and other than the two main routes of Extra, I recommend doing Ayamine's route for some extra background information on one of the arcs in Alternative.

Back to Alternative, shit's getting worse. Never thought motion sickness would become this bad of an issue. And I am still amazed at the production values; even the snow effects look fantastic.

Ho hum. Fate/stay night-esque moral dilemmas.

edited 8th May '12 10:02:44 AM by LiberatedLiberater

Yeah the production values are quite good in Alternative. Interested to see what you think of it all once you get to the end, especially since you like it now.

Done with the coup d'etat arc. Damn, that was heavy. All that nationalism was kind of a hard pill to swallow, but I think they really did well with how they presented all those political and moral dilemmas. Not to mention that it kept the tension up throughout the entire thing.

And crap, all that heavy stuff makes me appreciate Extra a whole lot more. Did they plan this all along?!

"Did they plan this all along?!"

Look closely at the background of the main menu screen of Muv-Luv (not Alternative). What you'll find out was there all along since you first started up Extra.

Spoilerless answer: That's Yoshimune Kouki for you.

edited 8th May '12 7:33:34 PM by HithertoAnIPAddress

I wish Norio Wakamoto gave my graduation speech. ;__;

Right, the one who translated the Full Metal Panic light novels has translated the first part of the prequel/sidestory Schwarzesmarken:

http://xmistervx.blogspot.com/

It's self-contained, but I wouldn't advise reading it until (at least) after seeing how anti-BETA operations in Alternative normally proceed.

Thank you very much.

Just got to the CHOMP scene. What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck. I knew it was coming but what the fuck?! Mentor characters really do get the worst of it, but I wish she had a... less sudden death.

edited 8th May '12 9:39:10 PM by LiberatedLiberater

Hahaha! It's one of those scenes where even if you're spoiled, you'll still have to read closely to predict it.

Death flags were there even if they aren't obvious.