Lemma Soft Forums

Hello and welcome to the general appreciation-, recommendation- and rating thread for NaNoRenO 2018. The thread made for you and all other NaNoRenO players and browsers to speak your mind and let your opinion know outside of the individual game threads. Please, let us know which NaNoRenO 2018 submissions you particularly enjoyed or think others should play as well!

Please do not make this thread a discussion on which game is the best or better than another. Give your own opinion, do not argue those of others. Also, please don't see this thread an alternative to posting on the game's WiP or completed game thread, and @Dev's please don't answer someone's review on this thread. Feel free to copy paste it into your own thread if you'd like to reply it, though. One purpose for this thread that I would like to see is people recommending the games that are worth playing but which are low in the rankings due to presentation or premise. Games you feel should be checked out and are worth the time, but which people looking for a few games rather than all of them may pass.

Now I want to stress that this IS NOT an official rating, award, poll or anything like that. The categories in the second post are all my personal picks from categories I picked myself, you don't have to vote like I did or play all of the VN before voting. The ones I highlight are my own picks and do not represent fair judgement or the opinion of many. Feel free to post here with your own categories, no category at all, with ratings, or just in general.


Why did I make this thread? I planned to make a thread for this last year too but didn't manage to play all the games before April was over... after seeing that no one else made a thread like this back then. Well, this time I'm making this topic prematurely to motivate myself not too fail and fade into obscurity like last time. This time I will succeed my goal of

Playing ALL of the NaNoRenO submissions!*

*Does not include VN that cannot be played on Windows, cannot be played due to errors or lacking links, aren't finished or available yet at the 4th of April or which I cannot or don't want to play for other reasons like language or kinds of NSFW. That I play all of these VN doesn't mean I finished all of them.



My categories:
Please note that these are still temporary and have been decided on in advance. You don't have to use this system yourself, feel free to come up with other categories and definitions. Not all these categories will be filled, there are no seatfillers here. Only VNs that I truly want to highlight I'll give a mention, even if that means some categories still aren't filled after rating all 70+ submissions.

Best playthrough is the closest to best VN I'm going to get, being the most memorable and enjoying VN I played based purely on my own impression.
Best story refers to what I consider the best story in script only, best flow of words and enthralling writing even if the game assets and representation were lacking.
Best art, because even the worst game can be good when it's purretty. Though hopefully this will be a good story as well.
Best mechanics refers to a game that was really saved thanks to the efforts of the programmers, or where their work really shines through.
Most complete is the one with the best finishing touchss. No cut corners, sketch sprites, feeling like things are scrapped for time or otherwise rushed. This also takes the finishes into consideration including the lack of typo's and grammar mistakes, finishing touches in representation and it being A COMPLETED GAME. No demo's and prologues in this category.
Early bird is the team that didn't only finish a game in time, they finished the game well in time. There are 18 games I downloaded a 2-3 days before the deadline, which are the only ones in the running here and judged in the version uploaded at that time.
Best demo is the demo or prologue that enticed me to play the complete version or at least made me make a mental note of their name.
Best twist/end is the completed game, demo or prologue that had the best turn of events or ending. This doesn't have to be unexpected, but it does have to be appreciated for being a twist or conclusion.
Best hook is the game with the most interesting premise or description. Maybe calling it the 'most marketable/best advertised' VN would be more appropriate. This includes the itch page, the main menu and the first one minute, but not the WiPs and dev blogs because I didn't check out all of them.
Most surprising is the game I didn't anticipate liking when I began playing it. And then I enjoyed it.
Best slice of life refers not to the genre but to the not-plot parts of the story. This means that a fantasy might win this, if they have the best banter or unwinding scenes.
Best romance/friendship refers to the best love story in the VNs, or just the best friendship, or the grey area in between.

*Note: The selected games are subject to change and not definite until I finish all the games, but the no seatfillers thing does apply so you may still feel proud for being mentioned here even if your game vanishes from the list later!

Best playthrough

Best story

Best art: Arcadia
In a forum filled with anime-inspired and ordinary drawings, a game with realistic art that looks good and like art is supposed to look like is a fresh breath of air. Arcadia looks wonderful, both in background art and especially the sprites. When they're detailed enough to see that the man is probably Asian as opposed to that pale that could be anything without highlighting the differences in an almost racist manner, that's good realistic art. And in a story where the MC is sick and tired of all the virtual reality and recent developments in AI and such, having them see people that look human rather than drawn simplifications is not only a neat artstyle but also adding something to the story itself. Good story, great art.

Best mechanics

Most complete

Early bird: Demon King Dominator
I have to give Belgerum this award with little doubt, they were well within the time limit and didn't start earlier than march 1st as far as I can tell. Right now this project is still in the running for several of the other categories too despite me really not liking NSFW and skipping those scenes quickly, because it's just so pretty and high-quality. It shows that this team didn't have a few people who weren't slacking, EVERYONE clearly did their job well and in time. And I can tell from last year's experience that getting everyone to deliver ahead of time like this is quite exemplary and suggests good organisation or a lot of luck. There are multiple sprites and CG, there is full voice acting, there were no placeholders as far as I could tell and there were finishing touches everywhere.

Best demo: Neopraxia
This demo made quite a good first impression with its main menu trick, and continued to keep me interested enough to not start skipping through at higher speeds. (Trust me, that's a higher bar than you may think.) The protagonist's antisocial and introvert personality was something I liked rather than being cliche or boring like usual, the worldbuilding was enthralling enough and there were hints of things to come that were elusive yet interesting enough to make me wonder about what was to come.

Best twist/end: Imre's curse
Imre's curse was a pretty and a cute VN, the premise and potential drawing my attention and the idea being interesting. The focus in the later parts about Imre's love and the problems it would cause, those were less my cup of tea. I personally hoped for a more distant and less human-like protagonist so the turn of events they took resulted in me skipping through some parts. The ending/twist this story had, that one I did like and caught me somewhat off guard. Imre's fate and heritage were unexpected, and the conclusion is definately worthy of this category.

Best hook


Most surprising: Crunchy lunch
So simple, so different, so entertaining. It didn't even need any art or writing, just a whole lot of post-its and a camera. And well-written to entertain too.

Best slice of life: Love and formaldehyde
I don't really like BxB. I don't like convenient settings with introvert MC's being thrown into a convenient setting for romance either. I did like this game though, and hat's what makes it the best candidate for this category thus far by far. And I liked it not for the characters and their romance, but for the nuances that arcadeparty added to Prince and Daniel. Their dynamic banter and Prince's way of acting made this game enjoyable for its reading rather than the plot or romance. And that's not easy to do.

Best romance/friendship: Whale's Waldo?
Now this one is hinging to the friendship more than the romance, because the first two you get are definately more that than a romance. Even if it's romance in the end. Whale's Waldo is a story where you befriend/romance a bunch of sea animals in a grey area of relationship because you mostly assuming they're all male and your own gender isn't established. But as friendship I liked it better, because in between the lines you as an American are essentially a money-bags paying for stuff in the other two countries (and really, isn't that the true start of any friendship?), and it added people who's own situation would actually lend itself well for quick befriending. These weren't nice or unnaturally mean/unsocial unrealistic thropes you befriend, but the kind that doesn't have much or any friends and are thus more likely to consider the guy/gall they met for just a few days as a friend/romance. It's slim pickings for them and the situation for friendship is well-founded. Realistic friendship and romance for the win, here!