I've set some new milestones for donations with more concrete "consequences" for meeting them. Your continued help and support is very much appreciated, and helps make MoeGamer continue its work as The Place to Be for in-depth exploration of Japanese games and visual novels — and, of course, those works inspired by the Japanese, too.

Here's a breakdown of the new goals.

At $50 per month, I'll arrange some web hosting for the browser-based versions of my "podcast as a visual novel", the GameCast. This means that you'll be able to play and enjoy them online rather than having to download them, which will be much more convenient for everyone.

At $100 per month, I'll sign up for WordPress' premium services, which will remove all ads from MoeGamer and add some additional functionality such as the ability to self-host audio and video. This means less reliance on external services such as YouTube, and more in the way of exciting multimedia articles.

At $300 per month, I'll invest in some proper streaming and capture equipment so I'll be able to produce more video content, hopefully on a regular basis. I'll also be able to expand my collection quite considerably, exploring an even broader array of games than I do already.

Please continue to read, enjoy and, most importantly, share the articles you enjoy on MoeGamer — and also do dip in to the other content across the site, too. You never know, you might find a new favourite to explore! Try clicking the "Anything!" button on the menu bar at the top of the site to jump right to a random article.

MoeGamer is a passion project but I'd love to turn it into something more. I can only do that with your help! Your continued support is appreciated.

Hello! Here's what you might have missed in the last week on MoeGamer.

The MoeGamer GameCast, Episode 5: The Stacey Dooley Incident
We talk about the BBC Three documentary "Young Sex for Sale in Japan", in which reporter Stacey Dooley made some rather bold accusations about Japan… and which a number of Japanese writers and artists responded rather strongly to.

Eorzean Diary: Lonely Explorer
Ponderings on Final Fantasy XIV's Palace of the Dead, one of the game's most unusual and interesting pieces of content.

Ne no Kami: Exploring Shinto Myths and Legends
First of this month's Cover Game articles, we explore how visual novel Ne no Kami: The Two Princess Knights of Kyoto makes use of Japanese mythology to form a backdrop to its action.

Wii U Essentials: Xenoblade Chronicles X
We look at one of the Wii U's most unusual and distinctive games — not to mention one of the most unusual and distinctive JRPGs there ever was. Xenoblade Chronicles X is a perpetually misunderstood and underrated game that is one of the console's finest titles.

Shmup Essentials: Minus Zero
Triangle Service's unusual "only lock-on shooting" game is a lot of fun, and a great way to while away a few minutes… or a few hours if you're anything like me and can't quite tear yourself away from just one more attempt.

From the Archives: I Will Fly You To the Moon and Back
A piece originally published on Games Are Evil back in 2012 that explores Freebird Games' beautiful narrative-centric adventure To The Moon.

Episode 6 of the GameCast  was released today, too. We talk about "auteur theory", Taro Yoko, Nier Automata, Neptunia in VR and bleak anime Kaiji.

Hello everyone! I've inadvertently forgotten to link a few posts on here recently, so here's a summary post of what you might have missed in the last week or two:

The MoeGamer GameCast  is my new, experimental "podcast as a visual novel", featuring discussion about games, anime, criticism and the news… as well as a few other mysteries along the way, too. Start from the Pilot episode if you want the full story; they only take about 10-15 minutes each to play through.

Wii U Essentials  has continued with a look at a few more fine games from the troubled console's library, including Twilight Princess HD and Super Mario 3D World.

READ.ME  is a column I've recovered from the Internet archives courtesy of the ever-wonderful Wayback Machine. Originally published in 2012-2013, it explores a variety of visual novels and topics surrounding this unique, narrative-centric niche of gaming.

And, of course, February's Cover Game coverage has continued with in-depth articles on Suou Amane  and Kazami Yuuji  from the Grisaia series.

I've also added a new button on the MoeGamer menu bar to take you to a random post. Check it out; you might find yourself reading about something you'd never considered taking a look at! Click here  or click the "Anything!" button on the top menu to surprise yourself.

The lineup for the next few months of Cover Games is as follows:

March: Ne no Kami and Sacrament of the Zodiac, two yuri-themed visual novels from Kuro Iroduru Yomiji (localised by Sekai Project/Denpasoft) with a shared setting and characters.

April: Nier Automata from Square Enix. Given how much I loved the original Nier, and how much I'm looking forward to this game, there ain't no way I'm not writing a ton of words about it!

May: Xanadu Next from Falcom and Xseed, a retro action dungeon crawler with Falcom's typically deep mechanics and worldbuilding.

Thanks once again for your continued support of long-form, positive writing about these underappreciated, often overlooked games. Please do share both the MoeGamer site and this Patreon page with your family, friends and social media followers and help show that there's still a place for this kind of coverage in a world increasingly dominated by outrage-led clickbait and hasty, kneejerk reactions!

When we first meet Komine Sachi inThe Fruit of Grisaia, she’s introduced almost as a caricature: she plays the role of “the perfect maid” to everyone else at Mihama Academy, right down to wearing a maid outfit when she’s not in school uniform.

But it doesn’t take a great deal of perceptiveness to notice her behaviour isn’t what you’d particularly call “normal”.

Specifically, it’s apparent pretty much from the outset that Sachi’s unusually compliant nature and tendency to take things literally is something out of the ordinary. Protagonist Yuuji isn’t quite sure what the exact problem is to begin with, but it gradually becomes clear to him as he starts to spend more time with her.

“She resembles me,” he says at one point. “Organising her life around diligently following orders, she never allows herself to doubt them, let alone defy those who make use of her. And almost as an extension of that, her ‘private’ activities are little more than the bare minimum routines of daily existence. Looking at Sachi, I’ve been seeing myself… and the discomfort I felt was a reflection of my uncertainty about my own way of life.”

Read the full article on MoeGamer .

When we’re first introduced to Sakaki Yumiko in the common route ofThe Fruit of Grisaia, it’s clear that she is both troubled and likely to be trouble for protagonist Yuuji.

When Yuuji first attempts to introduce himself to her, she initially tries her best to ignore him, and subsequently goes to slap him when he persists. This eventually escalates into her lashing out at him with a box cutter whenever she sees him, a fact which Yuuji’s fellow students just shrug off as being “something she does”, because they’ve all been through it too.

Yuuji, being a certified badass, shrugs off Yumiko’s attacks without injury easily, and eventually they stop altogether, though she still proves herself to be a prickly individual who is generally unwilling to interact with others.

Except, of course, it’s not that simple.

Read the full article on MoeGamer .

Matsushima Michiru is one of Grisaia’s most unusual, interesting characters, initially appearing to be present primarily for comic relief, but subsequently showing herself to be a complex, fascinating character with a considerable amount of depth.

We’re first introduced to Michiru in the common route of The Fruit of Grisaia, when protagonist Yuuji comes across her doing vocal exercises in an empty classroom, closely followed by her practicing bellowing out stock tsundere phrases such as “i-it’s not like I’m doing this for you or anything” and “d-don’t misunderstand!”

Already well aware by this point that his new classmates are a little on the peculiar side, Yuuji doesn’t probe too deeply into the matter, but it’s immediately obvious whenever Michiru interacts with Yuuji or her other classmates that her tsundere personality isn’t who she really is; rather, it’s a façade she’s putting up for reasons that, at the outset of the story, aren’t entirely clear.

Read the full article on MoeGamer.

 In this episode, Midori, Yumi, Penelope and I talk Grisaia, bonking, Ace Combat and more.

You'll notice a few tweaks from the pilot episode, most notably the addition of a custom interface and font as well as some distinctive PC-98-inspired FM synthesis music.

The font is the work of Style64, a North American demogroup for the Commodore 64 and PC. It's the same font used for MoeGamer's logo.

The music, meanwhile, is from MusMus, a site run by a composer from Japan known simply as "watson", who rather generously releases all his work royalty-free.

I made the interface, because I'm so 1337 pro noscope with Paint.Net. Also that's why the buttons look a bit shit.

I'm going to aim to release one of these each Monday for at least a little while to see how practical it is. Doubtless they'll become more ambitious over time. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Episode 1!

Find out more and download the episode for Windows or Mac on MoeGamer .

Frontwing’s Grisaia series, which kicked off in 2011 with the Japanese release of first installment The Fruit of Grisaia, has come to be regarded as a particular high point for the visual novel medium.

Indeed, back in 2015, the /r/visualnovels subreddit voted The Fruit of Grisaia as number one on its list of top 10 visual novels (later republished on GameFAQs), and the community still holds the game in high regard today, as evidenced by its prominent position on the subreddit’s comprehensive diagram of recommendations.

Grisaia’s high ranking on /r/visualnovels’ list was particularly exciting to enthusiasts of the medium, as growing localisation company Sekai Project had already run a successful Kickstarter campaign to bring the whole series West in the twilight hours of 2014 and the start of 2015, potentially opening it up to a whole new audience that was perhaps less familiar with acquiring Japanese visual novels and patching them with fan translations.

But what makes this series so remarkable? Let’s take a high-level look at it.

Read the full article on MoeGamer .

At the time of writing, the Wii U may be yet to play host to a brand-new, original mainline Zelda title — Breath of the Wild will be one of the last retail titles for the system — but it’s home to one of the best spin-offs the series has seen.

Unlike its stablemate Super Mario, Zelda actually hasn’t seen all that many spin-offs over the years, with only Link’s Crossbow Training on Wii and the two atrocious CD-i titles springing immediately to mind. This is perhaps because Zelda is an inherently more “serious” affair than Super Mario — sure, it has its moments of levity, but it’s always been less focused on cartoon silliness and as such it would be rather strange to see perpetual protagonist Link doing things outside his normal remit such as playing tennis or golf. (That, of course, didn’t stop him making an appearance in Mario Kart 8, but that was something of an outlier.)

That doesn’t mean that there isn’t scope for the series to explore gameplay styles outside the mainline titles’ “explore, dungeon, puzzle, boss” formula, and Hyrule Warriors is a potent proof of concept that demonstrates the ensemble cast the series has built up over the years is more than strong enough to carry a game that doesn’t focus exclusively on Link.

Read the full article on MoeGamer .

As we’ve discussed over the course of the last few articles, Gust’s Nights of Azure has a very strong sense of its own identity, both as an individual work and as part of its developer’s catalogue.

Every aspect of the game as a whole contributes to this coherent identity: its distinctly operatic, tragic Gothic narrative; its blend of action RPG gameplay with monster-raising and character customisation; its small cast of distinctive, memorable characters.

Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic, however, is its overall aesthetic. While, at times, drawing inspiration from other, similar works, there’s no denying that Nights of Azure takes ownership of its own identity to create a highly distinctive work that stands out even amid the rest of Gust’s back catalogue.

Read the full article on MoeGamer .