Recommend a good bishoujo game for a poor soul who can't play anything else at the moment. (graphics card is likely overheating/restarting the computer T_T)

I can't read jp characters so they need to be english translated :-)

I've played a few... Crescendo and Tsukihime are probably my favorite. (played some of Kana and Ever 17, but didn't really get too into them) Also played Figures of Happiness... that was just OK.

Awww...what was so bad about Ever 17? i just winged through it and still got the good endings for all....though to me, some weren't 😔 but it all comes together in the end 😃 I would give it like an 8/10....a few tears here and there 😀

[img]http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/azrinirza/makotoshinkai1_zpse3901c5a.gif[/img]
Everyday I'm tumblin'

I played Tsukihime, but didn't really like it. The idea behind the story was quite good it, but besides that the art/"music"/etc. was nothing special.

If you are bored play this:
Jumping XD

PS: The sound owns! 😐

Well, here I am, I'm back again
From the Deadlands I descend'
back from the dead, back from The End
'I'm here to take Revenge!

Its all about teh legendary Ever 17 😛
Well, you can allways try some of the free ones, like Red Shift or Summer Cicadas and the Girl (yes, I know the order is messed up xD).
If you have a DVD player, try Phantom of Inferno (awesome) or Natsuiro no Sunadokei (Hourglass of Summer, another great one).
Some people will mention Narcissu. I havent played it, but people think high of that novel (and its free)

Hmm... I appreciate the replies.
I'm not really worried about whether it's free or not. Also not really interested in the dvd games at this time... but thanks.

My fantasy would be a nice shoujo-ai eroge, but alas, other than that X-Change crap I don't know that any are available :'-{

Please keep the suggestions coming ;-}

Actually, I've always wanted to play Ever17...There wouldn't happen to be a place to download it, would there?

A just ruler amongst tyrants

There happens to be a place to dl nearly everything. It's called typing "insert anything torrent" in google. But I use isohunt.com for the most part. (not to dl anything illegal of course ;-})

You've placed some strict restrictions there which'll narrow the field quite a bit.

Your best bet is giving Kana and Ever17 another looksy.

Kana Imouto~ is one of the best renai stories I've read. I played it many years ago, and it was one of my first, but I've replayed it a few times and still have an ending or two I've left to savor. Next time I play it again will probably be Kana Okaeri~, the voiced and redone art version, which hasn't been translated.

Ever17 is one of the best Japanese renai games out there(like Kana). Play through it and you'll see what I mean. Voiced(male and female), great art, not much to complain about here. Pretty rare storyline as well.

Matt's suggestions are on as well. Phantom of Inferno is one of the best stories out there, whether you play it on the PC or as the DVD-PG version(which can be played on the PC as well).

Natsuiro no Sunadokei is a B-class game. Not one of the best, but worth playing, especially if you're restricted to English.

Going to http://www.shii.org/translate/ is a good idea to check out the various translated short novels and game patches available.

Now I'll add a suggestion if you're brave of heart.

Check out AGTH - Anime Games Text Hooker. It's a utility that captures the Japanese text from a game. If you have Jap-Eng translation software like Fujitsu Atlas, you can set it up so the text from the game is going automatically to the translator. See http://blgames.proboards25.com/index.cgi?board=gametips&action=display&thread=1141106731

This setup will open up almost all Japanese games, including shoujo-ai eroge ^_^;;

If you plan to go down that route, I have a lot of games to recommend.

If I can edit this post, perhaps I'll try to make it more complete. ^_^

Awesome reply, thanks :-)

Well, I did play through one of the Kana paths and two and a half Ever 17 paths, mostly because I had nothing better to do.

That translation tool looks interesting. The games are mostly text based - are they really enjoyable with the engrish? If the game has voice audio I might be able to get more a feel for what's going on I guess, having the rudimentary understanding of anyone who has listened to thousands up anime in japanese.

Warning: links may contain adult content
*Edit: I realized that I knew of a good shoujo-ai eroge. I do see them posted and come across them as new releases on erogamescape, but since I'm not a fan of yuri I pass them by even if they're highly rated.

[img]http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000EOLLOG.01.AA280_SCLZZZZZZZ.jpg[/img]

処女(おとめ)はお姉さま(ボク)に恋してる(Otome wa Boku ni Koi shiteru or Otoboku for short) DVD version is good, even for someone who has no interest in shoujo-ai like me. Strictly speaking, it's not shoujo-ai, but it has many of its elements. The DVD version is completely voiced, even the main character, so it should be very easy to follow along.

Katahane(カタハネ) also seems to highly rated. This one seems to be a real deal shoujo-ai eroge.*

They can be very enjoyable with the Engrish. ;-)

But, don't take my word for it. Try it out. You may find it frustrating and curse me for a few hours of wasted time. Or it may hasten you on the road to learning Japanese. Either way, it won't hurt much. ^_^

Obtain Atlas and AGTH. Make sure that you replace the QuickAtlas.exe file as provided with the torrent, it's v11 QuickAtlas.exe which uses less desktop space when running Clipboard Translation.

The previous guide-link I had given was Mastress's guide to AGTH.
Here's a more user-friendly guide to AGTH and Atlas by FHC. Peruse quickly through the whole guide at first since it'll give you an idea of what you may encounter.

First games I'd recommend:
Duel Savior Justice
Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo
CROSS†CHANNEL
Kono Aozora ni Yakusuko o
Clannad (w/Voice Patch)
ParfaitChocolate second brew "Re-order"
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien

FYI, for getchu links, refresh the page or hit enter on the URL if it doesn't load the first time.

Other sites you can't do without:

The Kanji Converter - Use this to turn Japanese into Romaji so you can read all those self-musings and narration as if you were hearing them. This is accurate most of the time, but not all of the time, since kanji can be read in more than one way or it combines the wrong kanji.

Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Server - Best dictionary there is. Use the Translate Words link to look up kanji. Use the Search in Dictionary links to look up words in hiragana or hiragana mixed with kanji. These links are best used to find the meaning of those words that Atlas doesn't translate correctly, then input the correct meaning into Atlas's dictionary. Even has the right meaning for sound effects and can translate from romaji(using the Search in Dictionary or edict).

Thanks again ^^

I will look through everything in depth when I have time in a couple days.

(I liked the Otome wa Boku anime quite a bit ;-} even though it was incredibly cheesy. I'm a sucker for that kind of plot)

Warning: links may contain adult content
Hm, I knew the anime had come out but didn't watch it as I was playing the game. I'm halfway through Shion's route but haven't played it in a while. Oh yes, the scene I'm at has genuine shoujo-ai. (^_^😉

So I had been playing another game by Caramel-Box which had come out, based around saving the world with sword-fighting and magic.. and alien technology. A lot of Japanese folklore as well, with difficult kanji, but makes for a really interesting 'fate' backdrop.

[img]http://www.caramel-box.com/image/prod/alicematic/wallpaper/002/alicematic_02_thumb.jpg[/img]

Bishoujo.....is that the opposite of BL? GL maybe......

Hm, I knew the anime had come out but didn't watch it as I was playing the game. I'm halfway through Shion's route but haven't played it in a while. Oh yes, the scene I'm at has genuine shoujo-ai. (^_^😉

So I had been playing [url= http://anonym.to/?http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=249685]ano ther game by Caramel-Box[/url] which had come out, based around saving the world with sword-fighting and magic.. and alien technology. A lot of Japanese folklore as well, with difficult kanji, but makes for a really interesting 'fate' backdrop.

what the.....that website got a lot of adult content in it.....

[color=green]Life, what would it be without so much wrongs and rights?
[/color]

[color=red]Star Trek XI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZiR-NETDr0[/color]

Quote from ares6

Bishoujo.....is that the opposite of BL? GL maybe......

what the.....that website got a lot of adult content in it.....

I apologize to you and any others who've stumbled onto adult content or inappropriate content.

@Manick, would you move this topic to the Adult forum please? I could also go back and remove the adult links in my previous posts, but the discussion itself is about ero-content so it may not be appropriate for those who wish to read about innocent games. Thank you.

Having said that..

Bishoujo games' main appeal are the bishoujos, the beautiful girls or heroines that star in the story. See wikipedia's entry on Bishoujo Games. They also have entries for visual novel, dating sim, eroge, boy's love game, GxB, etc.

The games we're referring to are visual novels or eroge.

Clannad is an example of a great visual novel without H content with routes for each of the bishoujos. Planetarian is a kinetic novel where there is no Koi(恋 - passionate love), but there is Ai(愛 - in this case general love). I'd recommend people of all ages/genders to check out Planetarian.

An eroge would be like the link you followed above, where there are H-scenes with the characters. Getchu is an online Japanese store which catalogs all eroge(along with anime, manga, etc) and serves as a convenient online database since they always have a good description of the story and the characters(with pronunciation furigana for the names) and screenshots. Getchu can be searched for most non-doujin H-games. Erogamescape can be searched for doujin and professional eroge.

Short Glossary:
Bishoujo(美少女) - beautiful shoujo(girl).
Bishounen(美少年) - handsome shounen(boy).
Boy's Love(少年愛, shounen-ai) - love between boys.
Ecchi(エッチ, えっち, "H" for short) - sex, indecent, lewd.
Hentai(変態) - abnormality, pervert.
Visual Novel - game with little interaction, mainly being choices. A novel with pictures where your choices affect the ending.
Kinetic Novel - visual novel with no choices. Term coined by Visual Arts, parent company of Key(known for Kanon, Air, Clannad, Planetarian, etc.).
eroge - game with H-content. Also referred to as H-game or Hentai-game.
GxB - Girl x Boy. Games where the protagonist is a girl and can have an ending with one of the bishounen in the story.
Furigana - pronunciation for kanji, written in small hiragana.
Doujin, doujinshi(同人誌) - fanfiction, fan-made art, fan-made games. Enthusiast, non-professional.

whoa...am i mistaking....I thought BL is the same as Bishounen........

[color=green]Life, what would it be without so much wrongs and rights?
[/color]

[color=red]Star Trek XI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZiR-NETDr0[/color]