New Maren stills up

[indigozeal.livejournal.com]

Not big news, but there're a few new stills up at the Maren no Rokukishi site, mostly of the love-love sort. (ETA: And chibi icons; thanks, fandramon!)

I'm tempted to say they're going too lovey-dovey here. I can believe a good romance with Cain and Gerhard from what we know of them; Sionna *crying* is a bit much, but he does have his moments of self-doubt, and he's an odd psychological case; it's difficult to take, though, a warm romantic moment with Eugene, though his smile does look like he's up to something, doesn't it. (Then again, this artist has a bit of trouble distinguishing sidelong creepy grins from honest, warm smiles.) I choose to believe that Giovanni and Theresa are arguing over who's prettier instead of having a lovers' quarrel. But unless it's a big setup, they're overplaying the cheerful and sunny in this newest batch of pics. This is basically Caril Ann Fugate: The Visual Novel, and while I don't want relentless tragedy, the subject matter does demand a good bit of darkness before the dawn and a bunch of Animamundi-esque bad endings possible along the way. At least Kiefer appears still to be a heartless bastard.

Comments

[fandramon.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the update! I'm looking forward to seeing these once I get home (useless non-flash phone browser -_-)
I'm kinda scared of love-love scenes after all the stuff that's gone on in the novel so far (sionna bad ending: he kills you; sionna good ending: ...yea, he's still gonna kill you XD) And Giovanni just seems like he'd lead you on for the lols ;>>
Cain still seems tolerable so far. I wonder what will happen with that random npc guy? He has a voice, so I dunno if he'll die early on o.O (speaking of voices, I can't wait for audio samples XD)

[indigozeal.livejournal.com]

sionna bad ending: he kills you; sionna good ending: ...yea, he's still gonna kill you XD

It's indicative of how things are going that I will be disappointed if there is no ending where Sionna kills you. (Or Eugene. Or Kiefer.)

I wonder what will happen with that random npc guy?

My strongest suspicion still is that Leviath is pulling something, and they're using a different voice actor to avoid too many overly-obvious signals.

[fandramon.livejournal.com]

I can only guess that Sionna is crying because he knows he *has* to kill you. Because he loves you so much XD That kid is disturbing...
...Why does Cain have that creeper smile in both of his cgs? I mean, I know his seiyuu is Naraku/Sephiroth, but really, tone down the evil a bit X3
I'm surprised the npc guy gets a cg. Maybe he's your personal keeper/butler/bodyguard guy. Or just a meat shield. Whichever XD
Keifer looks pissed off, I'm doubting you'll want be able to get close enough to tell his eye colour, let alone a hug, unless he decides to kill you o.O
I bet Giovanni was going through Teresa's lingerie or something [damn it man, get your own underwear! ;>>]
Eugene pulling a Miroku here *subtle butt grabbing action* I hope the next cg in that sequence is a slap to the face :p
..Gerhard still seems like a dumb brick, as usual, is he just fiddling with her jewelry or something? Awkward -_-;
And Leviath is just there with his eyepatch, acting as the leader of the pirates knights :p
...There's no Walter though! D: No fair! [and I don't know if I want to see a love-love cg with Kai-Fei, he looks scary. Even scarier than Keifer. Why are their names so similar, wtf o.O]
Oh gosh, the chibi icons are so cute *-* I wish I had more space on my lj icon holder thing for a few ;>>

[indigozeal.livejournal.com]

I totally missed the chibi icons!! That's the dumb-brickiest I've seen Gerhard yet. -_-;;

I can only guess that Sionna is crying because he knows he *has* to kill you. Because he loves you so much XD

Oh, God; I forgot about that bit.

[damn it man, get your own underwear! ;>>]

As evidenced by the lace-outfit thing, some people don't need underwear, apparently.

[durffy.livejournal.com]

very interesting! reserving judgement until we know more. heh...seems like the goal of the game should be to keep *any* of those guys from falling for you!

[indigozeal.livejournal.com]

There needs to be a "my God! I'm safe!" ending, or at least a slew of bad endings to illustrate the probable consequences of getting involved with these guys. I think it's an interesting choice of source material to adapt, but they need they can't play it like a normal visual-novel romance.

[guardianrandy.livejournal.com]

Yeahhhhh. Leave it to them to take something with a dark core and somehow make it all about the cuddly love-love. Haha.

This game better not disappoint. I'm worried with all these pretty pictures they're showing that they're trying to distract from the game's mechanics. In more than half a year's time, we've yet to see any in-game environments, character graphics, nothin'. For a launch date of November, there has to be SOMETHING they can release.

[indigozeal.livejournal.com]

This is where my ignorance of the genre comes in; what sort of gameplay elements besides CYOA do we usually see in visual novels? Was it fandramon who mentioned that light gameplay was a typical pitfall for Idea Factory titles?

[guardianrandy.livejournal.com]

No clue. I have a bad feeling the gameplay will be lacking, though. :( Oh well. I'll still buy and play it anyway. :D First Angelique-related game in years? Yes, please!

[beldarius.livejournal.com]

I just went through the character section there... who is that Johannes guy at the end of the list? Is that a new character or is he Renaud's dead brother or something? He's kinda handsome, I think he might actually look the best out of the guys.

...Kiefar's face makes me laugh. His scowls actually make him resemble Kiefer Sutherland in his Jack Bauer role a bit~ X''''D

Wah. Leviath might be a villain, but his smile just killed me. X___x;

Those superdeformed avatars are ADORABLE. Somehow I really like Kiefar. *jumps the SD version* He can't do anything to me, I'm a closet sadist and really strong for a girl~

[indigozeal.livejournal.com]

who is that Johannes guy at the end of the list?

He is indeed a new character, but we don't know anything about him beyond that he's a wandering swordsman who's interested in the Knights and their seemingly unstoppable battle power, though--waitaminute:

or is he Renaud's dead brother or something?

...who looked just like Leviath. By Jove, I think you've cracked the code.

(Also, I can't get Knight Captain Jack Bauer out of my head now.)

[beldarius.livejournal.com]

(Also, I can't get Knight Captain Jack Bauer out of my head now.)

Me neither. Sutherland basically has the same smile, too... though as a mirror version. XD http://www.filmbug.com/db/1455

...I could see Cillian Murphy as Eugene for some reason.

PS. My comment comes out screened each time I try. I don't think that's supposed to happen.

[indigozeal.livejournal.com]

Apparently, the screening happens whenever we post links in replies to an entry and can be descreened only by mods or whoever wrote the OP. It's hit most of the regulars here, I think.

(Man, that Sutherland resemblance just increases and increases. In fact, I'll pull in fandramon's Leviath-pirate reference and bring this full circle. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCiageqMHJc))

[beldarius.livejournal.com]

pfffffffft oh god. Now I'm imagining Kiefar doing that.

Cain: wtf r u doin :l