Recommend me a visual novel? :3...

[ILoveYumi]

WARNING IF YOU ARE UNDER 18 LEAVE THIS PAGE NOW (EVEN THOUGH YOU PROBABLY WILL JUST IGNORE THIS AND WANT TO READ IT MORE)



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Recommend me a visual novel? :3...

Needs to be English (include patch link please)

I like harems and things to that nature (but I do like to have a *good* story as well not just a slide show of hentai -.-). I do not mind H-scenes (hentai scenes (scenes that have nudity)) but again I like a *good* story.

Platform(s) available for me to play on: PC (list requirements unless they are ridiculously easy to meet), PSP, GBA, GB, GBC, Dreamcast, PS1/PS2, Nintendo DS, and N64.

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Thanks in advance
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[GameGeeks]

Don't think including translation patches is a good idea. The legality of them is iffy at best. For PC there's Tsukihime and Fate/Stay. Both for the PC and have patches. Though you'll have to search for them. Shouldn't be too hard find.

[ILoveYumi]

^Well a lot of games (that I've found) are only playable in English via translation patch... the games I've played w/English patches work well - like the text makes sense and such.

[ItsMeMario]

It's legal to use a translation patch if you already legally own a game. However downloading a bootleg copy of the game that is packaged with a translation patch, is QUITE illegal. It's perfectly legal to translate a game you already own. I mean how else are you expected to play it, without knowing Japanese?

---------- Post added at 11:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:17 PM ----------

I'm not sure if Visual Novels as a genre are good to mention on here, as there's quite a few kids on the forums, and most VNs (read over 90% of VNs) have hard-core porn scenes sometimes including violent rape (forced sex) and/or underage characters having sex with not-underage characters (statutory rape). Due to this decidedly inappropriate-for-kids content in such games, maybe this should thread should be limited in scope and change the title to state this limited scope (like change it to "Recommend me a SFW visual novel", or "Recommend me a G, PG, or at most PG-13 rated visual novel")

[ILoveYumi]

^Though I do agree that it is wrong to expose kids to mature content I am 19 so I am legally allowed to play M games and AO games too. I put a warning in my original post - if a mod. comes over and locks this thread I will simply move it to a new forum that has a better suited audience.

[GameGeeks]

It's legal to use a translation patch if you already legally own a game. However downloading a bootleg copy of the game that is packaged with a translation patch, is QUITE illegal. It's perfectly legal to translate a game you already own. I mean how else are you expected to play it, without knowing Japanese?

Not necessarily true. Some companies don't mind but others have sent out cease and desist orders. Which is why I said it's iffy at best. Depends on the company.

[ILoveYumi]

Not necessarily true. Some companies don't mind but others have sent out cease and desist orders. Which is why I said it's iffy at best. Depends on the company.

I know I am de-railing my own thread here but... frankly if people want it they will get it.

Torrent sites, upload sites, and various other means of file transfer.

[GameGeeks]

I know I am de-railing my own thread here but... frankly if people want it they will get it.

Torrent sites, upload sites, and various other means of file transfer.

Yes, but it's still best not to link such stuff here.

[ItsMeMario]

What I mean is that once you have the PHYSICAL disk in your posession to install the game LEGALLY, then you have the right to edit your copy of the game, including translating it into your language. Now you can release a patch for it so others who also LEGALLY have acquired a copy of the game, can ALSO play it translated.

The problem comes in if you distribute ANY of the original files with your translation. It IS illegal to distribute the modified version of the text resource files that came with the game, such that replacing the specific resource files in the games folder with the modified versions of these files causes the translation to be applied. That IS illegal because you have NO RIGHT to redistribute ANY of the game's files, in original or modified form.

However if your patch is a patch.exe file that contains NO ORIGINAL DATA, then it IS legal to distribute. Patch.exe type patches, you place the patch.exe file in the game's folder and run it. What it does when it is run, is it REPLACES the text in the text resource files, with new text. It knows where the text is, because the exe program is programmed with the file offsets within the resource files where the text is located. These are just numbers that tells the patcher where WITHIN the resource files the patch is to be applied. It would also contain the new text that is to replace the old text. However it contains NONE of the old text, and therefore NONE of the patch.exe file contains ANY copyrighted material. Since the text of the English translation was produced by the patch maker, not by the original game's maker, it is NOT original data, and therefore NOT copyrighted material.

So it IS legal to distribute patch.exe type patches. But it's likely ILLEGAL to distribute replacement resource file type patches.

Therefore if the link is to a modified/hacked resrouce file from the game it is VERY LIKELY to violate this forums rules.

But if it is a link to a patch.exe file that applies the changes to the person's game files, and therefore contains NO ORIGINAL COPYRIGHT MATERIAL, it probably IS OK to post a link to it here.

---------- Post added at 04:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:38 AM ----------

There are another type of patch which is even better yet. These also are usually called patch.exe so it's not usually possible to tell it appart from the previously mentioned patch.exe type of patch, but it's potentially even a better option if you are aware of what type of patch you have. It's an XOR patch. It opperates much like the above patch.exe patch type I mentioned, but unlike the previously mentioned patch.exe which worked by replacing specific parts of the resource files with the translation text, this XORs data with the original text to get the new text. How does it work?

When creating a patch.exe it normally works like this.

Original text: Arigato
New text: Goodbye
Patch file: at offset 1000 put the text Goodbye


When run it replaces the old text with the new text. This is MUCH better than distributing a patched resource file because the text isn't copyrighted data. However in some extreme cases (ie, cases involving really over-zealous extremely protective companies), they MIGHT argue that the new text is just the old text in a different language, because it has the same meaning as the old text, and the game's plot (including the text that conveys this plot) is copyrighted, and therefore a translation violates copyright because you are distributing text which is text containing the same "meaning" as the original copyrighted text. This seems a bit of a stretch, but more extreme companies might argue this. However there IS a work around. It is the XOR patch. It works like this.

Original text: Arigato
New text: Goodbye
Patch file: at offset 1000, XOR the text you find there with this data (06 1D 06 03 03 0D 0A) to get the new text and replace the old text with this new text

Now that data I showed are hex bytes, and when you take each of the letters of Arigato, find the ascii value of each letter, and then XOR it with the above data (each letter's ascii value XORed with the corresponding byte from the above mentioned data set) you will get a set of values that when taken as ascii values and converted into letters will give you the word Goodbye.

Because the patch file doesn't store ANY of the game in ANY language, it only stores the binary difference (XOR) of the English words compared to the Japanese words, it contains REALLY NO POSSIBLE COPYRIGHTED INFORMATION OR DATA IN ANY WAY. Therefore there would be NO WAY for even the most COPYPROTECTION OBSESSED COMPANIES to justify a cease and desist order against an XOR patch. You can't copyright difference data, as depending on what that file was applied to it would give COMPLETELY DIFFERENT RESULTS, and therefore is proof that it store no actual "storyline" or "plot" information. It only generates inteligable text at the TIME THE PATCH IS APPLIED, NOT stored in the patch.exe file itself, and therefore you MUST have an actual copy of the game with its ORIGINAL resource file for the patch to work. And I only condone getting that copy of the game in a LEGAL manner.

[Munchman]

Why not Katawa Shoujo? Its a great VN...

[ILoveYumi]

@GameGeeks oh ya don't link here the site would probably lock the thread because of linking to questionable content like that. If any thing just tell me the name of the VN and the patch name (example: *group name here* patch V1) that is what is google is there for after all ^_^.

@ItsMeMario If any thing I think the makers of the game appreciate groups like that because they make the game more widely available to others. Unfortunately some VN's are overpriced due to the fact I have to get them from Japan and sometimes they end up being garbage. As for the patchers themselves most of the time they stay under 25mb (after all it is just replacing text) and I scan them with a virus tool for good measure then I let them patch the game over.

@Munchman I have it now ^_^

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Regarding the legality... I think that most post pirates think this way...

[ItsMeMario]

Also there's this company that calls itself JBox or JList and sells VNs that were officially translated to English by the game company and are being sold to the US indeed through such companies as JBox/JList who specialize in anime stuff and other stuff that appeals to people who are fans of Japanese culture.

Be warned though, many of these VNs are ABSOLUTELY NOT suitable for kids.