Board 8 > Raging Loop *partial spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

Did the first 'playthrough'. Felt proud that I called the old grandma being a wolf early on. She made one major scum play that only one character called her out on, and then the conversation continued and it got glossed over and never brought up again.

Fun time so far. It's amazing that it starts out with a disclaimer stating that any resemblance to other games is a coincidence, and then goes on to precisely replicate a game of mafia, even including the rules and roles as canon lore to justify everything. Wouldn't have it any other way though.

Stopped at the point in the second playthrough where the protagonist whose name I can't spell flips out on the police officer for Dead Ending him multiple times. Was a perfect scene to include in a story about a time looper.

Included spoiler bars for anyone who didn't play the game yet but clicked on this topic anyway. Probably won't do that going forward, so if you like VNs I'll just say I recommend it.

Played this a couple of months ago, 2nd playthrough is definitely great. Would like to see your guesses about character roles

Played this two years ago I think. Fan of time loops and fan of murder mystery games so this was a fun time for me. Looking forward to what you think about it!

Finally will be able to play more if this later. Some more random thoughts:

1. Not entirely sold on listening to Japanese VA in a Visual Novel, honestly. My pace of reading is so much faster than their speech that I usually just cut off the dialogue to move on. However...

2. Really like the protagonist so far. His cool-as-cucumber voice direction is the only voice I wouldn't have implicitly assumed, and it adds to the experience. So far his own assessment of his personality seems like a case of misguided narrator - he repeatedly calls himself cold but his actions are the most proactively moral of anyone in the game.

Raging Loop is definitely an amateur VA production, but there's a lot of charm to the...*unique* VA work, in comparison to something like Umineko or Steins;Gate. I forget which playthrough it is, but there's a scene where the lead is chanting a mantra before kicking a door and I practically want to replay it all right now just to see it again.

I absolutely adore this game. It stands out so much and you'd never believe it's from a studio mostly know for churning out those $4 XBLA sprite RPGs by the dozens.

Shoosh shoosh.

I would saying Raging Loop feels amateur. The art is good, the writing is good, it has voice acting (which probably doubled its development costs), the music is decent, and it has all the quality of life updates one should expect from the genre. I'm definitely impressed if this was the developer's first outing into VNs.

Delinquent Kid: I'm going to go off and get myself killed!
Fusaishi: if you get yourself killed, I'll bang your mom, lmao

Biggest brain strategy I've ever seen.

Man...I really didn't want my early scum call in the second playthrough to be right...

Tag

I think I've read too many stories and VNs. I knew who the main 'villain' of Route 2 would be from the beginning just by thinking about what would make for a good plot point. Same for what's looking to be the driving point the Route 3; figured this would come next when I was playing Route 2 and wondering what the natural evolution of a Mafia-based story would be.

This isn't a knock on Raging Loop - it's basically doing exactly what it needs to in order to keep my interest. Still really enjoying it.

Side note: The time travel/loop elements are done really well. I like how Fusaishi strikes a balance between "let me push this timeline to get more data" and "wait, dying sucks".

Fusaishi: "We shouldn't kill."
*gets killed*

Fusaishi: "Okay, I guess we can kill."
*gets killed*

My man can't stop taking L's. At least it wasn't as bad as the police officer.

I know this is supposed to be a linear VN but I wished the branching choices lead to something more instead of getting a bad end almost instantly for most of them.

This might be the only true VN from Japan that I enjoyed. I won't go into my issues with it or anything, but I highly recommend GNOSIA if you want less story and more social deduction game, especially one that is highly customizable and endlessly replayable.

handsomeboy2012 posted...

I know this is supposed to be a linear VN but I wished the branching choices lead to something more instead of getting a bad end almost instantly for most of them.

I think I prefer it this way. Branching paths for the sake of branching paths would just dilute the strength of the main story.

KamikazePotato posted...

he repeatedly calls himself cold but his actions are the most proactively moral of anyone in the game.

May need to revise this opinion after seeing a scene of him gaslighting a mother into thinking she'll be saving her kids by killing them, jesus.

It's surprisingly difficult to blame him though. He risked everything to save Chiemi and Meiko in Route 1 and it amounted to nothing. He died like 10 times in order to win Route 2, achieved a mostly happy ending, and got the rug pulled out from under him. Trying to leave doesn't work. If he was a less unflappable protagonist this would be the part where he went through a Subaru Re:Zero meltdown, and even then there's internal comments about how the situation is affecting him, like how he doesn't want to make friends with anyone this route because it'll just hurt worse when they die.

Aside from Fusaishi, I like most of the characters, although they all have major flaws which prevent me from getting too attached to them. Which is good, makes for a better story, but I won't be making a rankings list anytime soon. Some random comments:

Whatever the opposite of an MVP is, Haru is it. Badger in route 1, early death in route 2, wolf in route 3, generally hostile for no reason under all circumstances. She's somehow more frustrating than the old grandma, who exists solely to cause problems and be wrong.

The insular, small-town vibe is perfectly represented with in how stubborn and shortsighted much of the cast is. Takumi and Kanzo are huge pains in the ass unless they arbitrarily decide to be on your side.

Felt like Rikako fell for Fusaishi too quickly, but she's sheltered and it's fiction so whatever.

Chiemi is cool but my feelings on her are...mixed, for obvious reasons.

haruaki a shit and i love him

9/10 VN, absolutely great, and seconding the notion to go play Gnosia sometime for a more interactive gamey mafia game

still mystified over how kemco put out a good game for once

fat cameraman OP, please nerf

"Don't come back to this ending no matter what!"

You can't tell me what to do! I know how to make save backups!

Nothing changes if you actually go back to that ending

Sheep just too lazy to reset the timeline, what do we even pay him for?

I read reviews after the fact that said this part ruined it for them and I call those people WEAK FOOLS.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I read reviews after the fact that said this part ruined it for them and I call those people WEAK FOOLS.

I have some issues with the execution, but I can't say the game wasn't building up to it.

What the fuck Rikako

Local fuckboy defeats god via marriage fraud

Simply amazing.

End of 3rd 'playthrough' onwards is my least favourite part of the game

Revelation mode is an incredible idea for a game like this.

Will post detailed ending feelings later. tl;dr - very mixed, leaning positive.

The first few scenes in revelations mode are hilarious

I never did a full reread in revelations, but I did skip around to interesting bits of the story and it was pretty neat

I'd say I have mixed feelings on it as well. Certainly had fun playing it but the story did lose me at times. Definitely didn't feel like a waste of time though and would recommend for anyone who wanted to scratch that murder mystery/mafia itch.

Make sure you read the extra parts outside of Revelations as well.

I found myself pretty bored with the first extra story, but remember really liking the others. They had me hoping their next game is still set in the same world, even if it's different POVs.

Apparently there was already another game tied to the sheep girl on mobile (who's now apparently a teenager), but I'm not sure if it's in english or ever will be

Thoughts before diving into the post-game content.

First, I ended up mostly liking all the characters. Nosato (glasses-wearing arrogant dude) was a small favorite of mine from the beginning so I was happy to see him get more time to shine later on. Huraki Fusaishi remains one of the best VN protagonists I've experienced. Maybe the actual best? He was certainly a big part of why the story was enjoyable. Chiemi was also good, had amazing chemistry with Fusaishi.

Why'd they have to push a potential romance between Fusaishi and Haru though? She's a teenager. Japan gonna Japan I guess. It's disappointing that I have to be used accustomed to that sort of thing.

Now onto the ending parts. They're...hmm. Hmm. I saw that for some people, what happens after Route 3 ruined the game for them. I wouldn't go that far, as there were some parts I really liked. Examples would be the part where Fusaishi is looping with Chiemi, and the cheesy-yet-cathartic scene where Fusaishi gives therapy to everyone in the village while pretending to be their god. Defeating a god via marriage fraud is a fucking great moment.

With that said, I can see where the detractors are coming from. Raging Loop tries to have its cake and eat it too in that it pushes supernatural answers and realistic answers at the same time. To be blunt, I don't think it pulled that off. The elements of supernatural horror were so well-done that shoving in a realist answer afterwards just seems...why? Are we really supposed to believe in perfect knockout gas, electronically locked doors (that no one ever tries to break down for some reason), and an army of heat-seeking dogs with rabies, all somehow secretly integrated into a rural village? You're telling me that endlessly-looping Chiemi with a murderboner couldn't find a way to kill a bunch of shmucks in cosplay?

It makes less sense the more you think about it, and worse, it retroactively detracts from the experience. Now when I think back to the moments of horror, they just seem...worse. Like when Fusaishi wakes up as a wolf and is given his task, that chilling scene is apparently just randos in outfits. Considering that Raging Loop still has plenty of hard confirmed supernatural elements, this half-measure was unnecessary.

Also, a lot of the plot twists hinge on Japanese language manipulation, which is a complete miss for a non-native speaker. That's not necessarily the game's fault, but it is what it is. The scene where they describe the history of the area are also way too long and could have been shortened. Not so sure about Rikako getting a relatively happy ending after all the fucked up stuff she did, too, it's totally glossed over because she's a waifu.

This post ended up more negative than intended, but I think that's because the good parts of Raging Loop are a bit more difficult to discuss. It's strengths lie in the moment-to-moment, how the dialogue is smart and realistic, how it creates an effective atmosphere. You can't really replicate that by talking about it.

Overall game is hovering somewhere between an 8/10 and an 8.5/10 for me. Great start, Fantastic middle, conflicting end. Will see how I feel after doing the extra content.

Revelations mode is already paying dividends. Did Route 1. Was really cool learning more about the convenience store scene and seeing what happened after the ending. The initial interactions with Chiemi were pretty wild too.

Some of the questionable lategame reveals a bit better with added context, but a 95-year old man being able to consistently kill people (even with a bunch of advantages) still feels off. How is he even walking around in that outfit?

Since you're wrapping up, I don't know what your full VN history is (even if you've mentioned it before I can never retain this stuff) but if you're interested in another underrated and discussed VN that isn't too long anytime soon that's super accessible, I really love Fatal Twelve. I played these 2 back to back.

Of course, there's House in Fata Morgana, but you have probably heard of that one if you've ever looked into popular VNs.

And Umineko, but that's a 120 hour commitment for a fast reader.

I was basically the cause of Umineko spreading through B8. Good times. Was slightly late to Fata Morgana but I think I was one of the people who ended up getting you interested in it by making a topic.

Will look into Fatal Twelve (and GNOSIS), thanks for the rec.

Ahhh well, I should be thanking you then! Yeah I definitely can't remember who has done what on this board anymore lol.

Actually, off the top of my head, this is my VN catalogue:

Fata Morgana
Umineko
Ever17
Raging Loop
Fate/Stay Night
Tsukihime
Saya no Uta
Cross Channel
Phoenix Wright
Zero Escape
Danganronpa
Doki Doki Literature Club
VA-11 Hall-A

Also watched the anime of Steins Gate. Want to play...

12 Sentinels
Fatal Twelve
GNOSIS
Tsukihime Remake

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Ahhh well, I should be thanking you then! Yeah I definitely can't remember who has done what on this board anymore lol.

I think it's been like a decade since any user really 'did' something to influence the rest of this board, honestly. We've been pretty locked into our niches for a while now. The Umineko thing is my minor claim to fame but that was 14~ years ago.

I can't help but see that Higurashi isn't on that list, assuming you didn't just forget it.

Also would recommend Iwaihime.

The internet spoiled everything about Higurashi for me well before I even played Umineko.

Ehhhh I don't think that's as detrimental as you would think. I played it after watching the full original anime multiple times and still got plenty out of it.

It's still a lengthy commitment, though.

Revelation Route 2 is just 90% Rikako being horny.

Some of the conversations do legitimately get a lot more interesting when you know that several involved characters are loopers, though.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Ehhhh I don't think that's as detrimental as you would think. I played it after watching the full original anime multiple times and still got plenty out of it.

It's still a lengthy commitment, though.

Might check it out eventually, but the length is a problem.