Dive into the magical world of Asaph Online in this visual novel, where Kotone is a feared dark witch with impressive and extensive magical powers, capable of defeating the strongest of foes with a snap of her fingers.
In real life, however, Kotone is an average woman who works an average job, with a below average relationship with her estranged parents.
Every day that passes is the same, and Kotone soon grows tired of her monotonous routine. If only she could enter a world like Asaph, filled with fantastical creatures and frightening monsters… but Asaph Online is only a game. There’s no way a game could ever become a reality.
At least, that’s what Kotone used to think – until a mysterious force summons her to the world she has traversed so many times through her computer screen.
Now, Kotone isn’t just Kotone, but the dark witch Viola – and, freed from her societal obligations, she finally decides to have some fun!
I played only a view Sakura Games (Swimm Club was the best of them I still have to play Dungeon) and the design is the only real and constant quality. upgrading the quality of the H-scenes and giving them high sexual content would already make the game better by a lot it would be at least good fap material.
Game started strong with existential dread of protagonist, then became boring isekai story. Way too short, ending out of nowhere. BAD!
Everything Suiko says is the reason why most people (myself included) hate sakura games, good art is wasted in a game that has a good plot but a short story (seriously, they should do manga instead of games, it would be better for them) I seriously enjoyed sakura dungeon, then I played another one and it disappointed me but I said this usually happens, I played other games and since then I said no more, it’s not worth the download time, I usually buy the games that I like, unfortunately, the quality of these is deteriorating on a large scale, they started well but you can see the results, it’s a disaster, if you like yuri, better play sonna hanabira at least and you will see the difference.
Unpopular opinion, but I don’t despise Sakura games. Up until now I’ve always “tolerated” them, in a sense. I mean, the art is good. I would even say I love it. The characters are cute, the color palette is pleasant, the designs (especially clothes) are nice… heck, I even like the way they draw nipples, and the few times they are allowed to show some pussy I find them quite endearing.
Don’t take me wrong: whenever I play a Sakura game I set my expectations to the lowest possible; Sakura Swim Club, for example, was a nice surprise, my favourite of them all (even more than Dungeon). I’m not expecting a Deus Machina Demonbane (that shit had a fuck ton of narrative), but most of the time they’re “harmless” and, since I love the art so much, good for a quick fap.
As I said at the start of this rant: “up until now”. This is the first time a Sakura game has… annoyed me. Not because of the yuri (I love yuri!), not because of the characters, not because of the setting, and not because of the plot (as I said, I’m not expecting friggin’ Shakespeare on these games)… what irked me was the lenght. Is way too short. Even more considering the setting of the game: a friggin’ MMO! One of those M’s stand for Massive! You can’t make a game/novel/whatever taking place in an MMO so short. There’s a lot of possible landscapes, lots of possible characters, lots of possible events… And not only the game is short, the ending comes abruptly, out of nowhere! I’m being serious, when the “Thanks for playing” text appeared I was dumbfounded for a solid minute. Also, it is just me or is this the Sakura game with less sex content of them all (the ones that had actual sex, obviously)?
Actually, Muv-Luv is overrated too, especially MLA. The amount of plot armor, plothole, Deus Ex Machina and other crap is staggering.
Expounding on what Random said, a lot of translated games are bad, too. And some OEL games are very good. I’ll totally agree that OEL is a bad sign, but frankly I wouldn’t say Sakura’s games are even close to as bad as likes of Let’s Meow Meow, Chichi Miko, or Princess Eric, which are the worst games I’ve gotten from this site. Nor do the vast majority of the Jap games on this site compare to Katawa Shoujo or Sweetest Monster. I may just be looking for a quick fap, but even I can recognize when characterization is a priority, when compared to when it wasn’t even _attempted_
It’s like people forget Sturgeon’s Law (“90% of everything is crud”) by way of ignoring the *minor* detail that the Asian VNs that make it West are HEAVILY filtered already by the effort involved in translating them, be it by happy amateurs or profit-seeking businesses. (And the bulk of what gets translated is STILL highly derivative boilerplate from what I’ve seen.)
Looking at a considerably less curated cross-section visible at Certain Torrent Sites (which I parse for idle entertainement) suggests that, yes, most of what the Japanese VN industry churns out – PARTICULARLY on the eroge side – indeed is low-quality garbage that pretty much makes Winged Cloud look like they’re investing serious effort and talent.
Also, relevant corollaries of the aforementioned Law:
Crawford’s Corollary: Should you ever find that less than 90% seem to be [crud], your standard is set too low and should be adjusted.
Critic’s Corollary: 90% of people lack the taste necessary to distinguish between crud and non-crud.
Critic’s Second Corollary: 90% of people will criticize 90% of what they see regardless of their ability to distinguish crud from non-crud.
For someone who played MUV-LUV, MAJIKOI and lots of other masterpieces these trashes are nothing but demotion of VN industry.
I dare to say even patreon games are superior compared to this.
You all complain how bad the game is and its previous titles but most of u dont realized how saturated the market is with subpar products like the sakura series. Its fine for now i guess in the english market since its not that explored much, but not like in the case of japan that releases every month just for the devs to earn money and most of the title’s released arent really good.
Sakura games are ALL trash because every one of the is just a poor man’s porn without any quality, recycled completely from the previous installments with only the names and the general premises being different. At that point, low resolution would be the least of my complaints.
Staying as far away from judging the actual quality of this vn, the description reminds a lot of the manga/anime How Not to Summon a Demon Lord. I imagine this kind of tale is not the most orignal concept, but it is intresting and fun.
🙂
Eh, my main complete about Sakura games is that they tend to be really bad at resolution. Every Sakura story I’ve played has wound up leaving me feeling like “That’s it?” when I got to the end. They tend to feel less like standalone stories and more like pilot episodes: We get introductions to the characters, an introduction to the central conflict, a strong “first victory”, and then… Congrats, you’ve finished the game! But the central conflict is unresolved, the characters haven’t had a chance to grow, and things end on an awkward hook for a “next episode” that will never come. This is why as someone else said, “it only feels like 15% of a game”. The story FEELS incomplete, and it just ends up leaving the player disappointed, because as soon as they feel invested into the story, it ends with no return on that investment.
At worst, it feels like you paid them money just to have them say “Well, if you want to see the end of this story, you’ll have to pay us more money at some point in the future! Not that there’s any guarantee we actually will make it, though!” And that’s another major problem: They end these things on a hook to encourage people to buy “the sequel”, but in most of these cases, there is no sequel and there’s no reason to expect a sequel. There’s no point to buying a Sakura game by itself because they won’t resolve the plot in a single game, but most of these games aren’t getting sequels.
I like how they are doing more Yuri, since there are too many F/M romances anyway, so annoying. Not enough Yuri out there. One of the main reasons why I love winged cloud’s yuri VN’s
It’s true that Sakura games are generally low quality, and blend, and only yuri, and not very original, but there’s no need to trash them. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it, don’t play it. There are obviously people who like it, whether because of its art, or because they like yuri, or some other reason.
Also, stop saying “it’s FAKE EROGE” and crap about “not being Japanese origin”. It’s not like Japan is the only country that has the right to make eroge, though they are very good at it. Eroge is short for erotic game, so frankly any erotic game is eroge. I agree Sakura games are crappy, but the obsession with Japanese eroge and calling all others fake is downright irritating.
I mean i don’t really like The sakura series, but also I do not hate it completely. The thing that bothers me is the fact that they left the stories with M / F content and only went to the yuri. Of course, they make rather mediocre visual novels compared to Japanese VNs, but they have potential that they do not want to use for unknown reasons
Is that French for “I have no actual arguments to go with my arbitrary prejudices”?
Because so far the closest thing I’ve seen to anyone explaining how, exactly, WC’s stuff is supposed to be meaningfully inferior to any number of direly forgettable boilerplate “real” VNs literally amounted to “it’s not Japanese so it’s fake reeeeeeeee”…
I don’t want to feed you, so I will only say this. It’s pointless to argue with idiots like you, because you will only bring us down to your level and beat us with experience.
Lol are you morons serious. You should be praising and offering them support for having the balls to actually make stuff like this in our current western culture. The state of vn’s is pretty much like hentai, or even normal anime – if you’re asked in real life, I’m sure many of you would just deny it wholeheartedly.
On the other hand, if this shit takes off and actually gains popularity and demand goes up, others will make more (and maybe even better) games to meet these demands. Its a good deal all around. Stop crying and think about other perspectives for a change.
Real eroge is awesome. This is an embarrassment.
I don’t think Winged cloud/Dharker studio shit should be put in the category of eroge.
Although the artist for the game is pretty cute.
https://www.deviantart.com/inma#_=_
“Show us on this doll where the bad dev touched you…”
lul @ this irrational buttmadness and weeb level OVER 9000 (“it’s not Wapanese so its faek ermahgerd”)
You dudes are really buttmad.
lul imma buy it anyway, cuzits sooooooooooooooo gud.
SAKURA = GARBAGE
why are these knock offs still being made?? because ppl keep buying it! STOP!!! Play a real eroge, anything SAKURA is fake knockoff sh*t. The art sux, the story sux, and every story, plot and character is ripped off from real eroge. Dont waste your time, just play the real thing. The company that makes this should be ashamed for the blatant ripoffs they are making. they steal EVERYTHING from other eroge! Dont encourage this atrocious behavior!
sakura series isnt real eroge. its english people trying to take your money thinking you are buying real japanese games. stay away from this awful crapola
If people would stop buying this FAKE EROGE ENGLISH PRODUCED crap they would stop making it. Its cheap, low quality and not Japanese origin. Dont give it the time of day, dont waste your time. FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE
Idc if it’s a Sakura VN, All I want to know is if it’s yu-
*looks at screenshots*
……….
*Downloads at the speed of light*
This feels like only 15 percent of a game, i feel like there’s so much story left to explore, mind you i enjoyed the game a lot, especially playing a “sadistic” character, perhaps that’s why i feel it’s too short.
I was hoping to try this out without wasting money, thanks a ton Admin! 😀 Now I can see whether or not its worth buying, if it is then i’ll gladly pay for it when a good sale happens on Steam, otherwise i’ll leave it be when I know it isn’t worth the money. 😛
I don’t get why some people are offended by this. If you don’t like these games then just ignore them. There’s plenty of other stuff out there. If they keep making more then it’s because there is obviously a market, and who are you to say that market can’t have these games? Get over it.
I know everybody gives sakura crap for their pre-teen-cock-tease-games but ever since sakura swim club i give them a chance.
that one was nice.
SAKURA WORTHLESS PIECE OF TRASH WHEN?
I mean.
You could ask the same of the metric buttload of painfully generic and derivative cookie-cutter galges that come out about every week or so.
WC at least tries to have some real variety in the settings, as opposed to the perennial lolhighschool…
No No No No No!!!! who keep buying these things? obviously not us but someone has to if they keep making them i just hope that with steam allowing nudity now TL teams and Japanese dev will start putting more of their games on steam, still thanks as always admin