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Immerse yourself into inspiring stories thanks to our Weekly Sale that features games from MangaGamer with discounts reaching 70%. Here are some examples:

eden* (-70%) is a sci-fi visual novel that features a moving love story set on a planet that is about to be devoid of all life.

The House in Fata Morgana (-50%) is a grim story set in a mansion full of dark mysteries and tragedies of its former inhabitants.

Lilycle Rainbow Stage!!! (-60%) is a sweet, heartwarming story with cheerful and highly detailed illustrations by Sakura Miwabe.

Take a hold of great stories before this Weekly Sale on GOG.COM fades away on 19th April 2021, 1 PM UTC.
Niche ;)
Why isn't there a Weekly Sale banner on the home page?
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1jocator: Why isn't there a Weekly Sale banner on the home page?
It's the first image on the image carousel/slider. Do you mean a banner above that? Usually GOG doesn't do banners above the carousel unless the sale is a big deal / they think an extraordinary number of people will be interested in it, rarely for weekly sales.
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: Does anyone know why GOG offers so few titles from MangaGamer?

Why doesn't GOG instead offer the entire MangaGamer catalogue, or at least something close to that?
GOG is more puritan than Steam even...and those are Americans. So it's not that surprising.
low rated
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Swissy88: Right, waiting for Wednesday sale then.
Yeah. I just did gave you a "+"
You know, you deserve it. :D
Post edited April 13, 2021 by WildApple-OP
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1jocator: Why isn't there a Weekly Sale banner on the home page?
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tfishell: It's the first image on the image carousel/slider. Do you mean a banner above that? Usually GOG doesn't do banners above the carousel unless the sale is a big deal / they think an extraordinary number of people will be interested in it, rarely for weekly sales.
I mean the "Now on Sale" banners. Usually Weekly Sales (as well as Midweeks and Weekends) appear here. Now it only has Bethesda.
Post edited April 13, 2021 by 1jocator
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tfishell: It's the first image on the image carousel/slider. Do you mean a banner above that? Usually GOG doesn't do banners above the carousel unless the sale is a big deal / they think an extraordinary number of people will be interested in it, rarely for weekly sales.
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1jocator: I mean the "Now on Sale" banners. Usually Weekly Sales (as well as Midweeks and Weekends) appear here. Now it only has Bethesda.
Speaking of "Bethesda PUBLISHED titles" sale I find if bizzare that whenever there is a "Bethesda sale" The Evil Within series is usually absent from it.
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: Does anyone know why GOG offers so few titles from MangaGamer?

Why doesn't GOG instead offer the entire MangaGamer catalogue, or at least something close to that?
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Lucumo: GOG is more puritan than Steam even...and those are Americans. So it's not that surprising.
Well, Poland is a very catholic nation after all... But they cannot be THAT puritanical seeing as witcher series allows for the main protagonist to engage prostitutes as a gameplay mechanic!

On topic, how about the best of both worlds and bring in more VNRPGs like the entirety of the Neptune series?
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tfishell: It's the first image on the image carousel/slider. Do you mean a banner above that? Usually GOG doesn't do banners above the carousel unless the sale is a big deal / they think an extraordinary number of people will be interested in it, rarely for weekly sales.
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1jocator: I mean the "Now on Sale" banners. Usually Weekly Sales (as well as Midweeks and Weekends) appear here. Now it only has Bethesda.
Ah, a separate tab for them? Currently they are on the second+ carousel section of "Featured Deals".
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Lucumo: GOG is more puritan than Steam even...and those are Americans. So it's not that surprising.
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TZODnmr2k5: Well, Poland is a very catholic nation after all... But they cannot be THAT puritanical seeing as witcher series allows for the main protagonist to engage prostitutes as a gameplay mechanic!

On topic, how about the best of both worlds and bring in more VNRPGs like the entirety of the Neptune series?
Do they have national outrage over some exposed boob though? Or countless of mothers harassing companies because of some nonsense or other? Yeah, GOG publishing the Witcher series makes it somewhat hypocritial, though, of course VNs tend to be a bit more...explicit.

The Hyperdimension Neptunia series is just regular RPG, nothing to do with VN. For VNs with RPG gameplay, there are series like the Rance or the Meister one.
Can't go worse than this.
Can it?
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TZODnmr2k5: Well, Poland is a very catholic nation after all... But they cannot be THAT puritanical seeing as witcher series allows for the main protagonist to engage prostitutes as a gameplay mechanic!

On topic, how about the best of both worlds and bring in more VNRPGs like the entirety of the Neptune series?
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Lucumo: Do they have national outrage over some exposed boob though? Or countless of mothers harassing companies because of some nonsense or other? Yeah, GOG publishing the Witcher series makes it somewhat hypocritial, though, of course VNs tend to be a bit more...explicit.

The Hyperdimension Neptunia series is just regular RPG, nothing to do with VN. For VNs with RPG gameplay, there are series like the Rance or the Meister one.
Yeah our nation does lead the world with puritanical hysterics over exposed women's nipples and Europe may have some catholic-based nations but they're not as bad as our own when it comes to sexual paranoia!

I somewhat see the neptuna series as VNRPGs as there are 15-20 minute dialogue sessions that occur with most events at least from what I have seen, but then again, I haven't played many VNs so...

(Still want to see the entire Neptuna series over here!)

The Rance series was easy to find, yet the Meister one series is a bit tougher as I'm getting convoluted DDG/Google results, can you give me a link, and does it have a current digital release?
Post edited April 14, 2021 by TZODnmr2k5
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TZODnmr2k5: Yeah our nation does lead the world with puritanical hysterics over exposed women's nipples and Europe may have some catholic-based nations but they're not as bad as our own when it comes to sexual paranoia!

I somewhat see the neptuna series as VNRPGs as there are 15-20 minute dialogue sessions that occur with most events at least from what I have seen, but then again, I haven't played many VNs so...

(Still want to see the entire Neptuna series over here!)

The Rance series was easy to find, yet the Meister one series is a bit tougher as I'm getting convoluted DDG/Google results, can you give me a link, and does it have a current digital release?
Not to mention the hypocrisy with having the largest porn industry in the world and all that.

The Rance series is a pretty large one, with ten games in the main series, two and a half remakes, two spin-offs and only some games being officially translated by MangaGamer (which are somewhat questionable at times - MangaGamer in general is somewhat iffy and had their share of controversy; unfortunately, that's basically generally the case with Western companies officially translating VNs). Personally, I stay clear of any MangaGamer stuff and I own all the Rance games physically (Japanese versions) anyway.

As for the Meister games:
https://eushully.fandom.com/wiki/Princess_Hunting_Dungeon_Meister
https://eushully.fandom.com/wiki/God_Catching_Alchemy_Meister
https://eushully.fandom.com/wiki/Amayui_Castle_Meister

Only Kamidori (God Catching) Alchemy Meister got a fan translation. The other two are only available in Japanese (same as some Rance games - the newest ones). Links to stores for download can be found at the bottom of the pages. However, the digital versions are all DRM'ed (and quite badly too). Eushully in general went heavy on the DRM and nowadays it includes their physical games as well. Professional gaming companies in Japan like their DRM stuff (see their love of Denuvo) and unfortunately, Eushully, is just part of the majority. In contrast, however, Alicesoft's games (of which the Rance series is part of) have no such DRM and they are generally really customer-friendly (although they did release their first gacha mobile game this year, so that's already bad enough).
Some tidbit: The Japanese doujin (indie) scene tends to avoid DRM, it's pretty much the complete opposite of the professional one. Unfortunately, VNs with gameplay elements aren't really a thing there. Some games come close (like ones that are basically copies of the Super Robot Taisen series (if you know that one)) though.

There are also more VNs with gameplay elements, like the Utawarerumono series which turned (from my point of view) sour. But hey, at least the first game was great. In general, a decent amount of games exist but almost all of the time, it's in Japanese only. I tend to know a decent amount about VNs, having been interested in them (and playing them) for 15 years by now. Add to that a specific interest in ones with gameplay. Though, just like with normal games, I prefer to look backwards as the general quality of VNs has dipped which is especially noticable in the artwork.
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TZODnmr2k5: Yeah our nation does lead the world with puritanical hysterics over exposed women's nipples and Europe may have some catholic-based nations but they're not as bad as our own when it comes to sexual paranoia!

[B1tF1ghter's quote note: "our" == US in this example correct?]
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Lucumo: Not to mention the hypocrisy with having the largest porn industry in the world and all that.
Certainly it is quite a hypocrisy to make a fuss about some pixel breasts while spreading IRL porn EVERYWHERE.
Imo Japan has a better approach to this (kind of reverse, hentai/doujin - ok, porn - not so much, "still" allowed to a degree, but far less).

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Lucumo: The Japanese doujin (indie) scene tends to avoid DRM, it's pretty much the complete opposite of the professional one.
Hey do you perhaps have any resources regarding specificly JAPANESE DRMs?
I kid of got interested in the matter some time ago and I don't exactly know where to look (btw PCGW is PROFOUNDLY IGNORANT in regards to specificly JAPANESE DRMs and actually also stores so THAT resource is thrown out of the window immediatelly in this regard).
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B1tF1ghter: Certainly it is quite a hypocrisy to make a fuss about some pixel breasts while spreading IRL porn EVERYWHERE.
Imo Japan has a better approach to this (kind of reverse, hentai/doujin - ok, porn - not so much, "still" allowed to a degree, but far less).
Although Japan has become worse in some ways. For the Olympics they wanted to "clean up" a bit and convenience stores were "recommended" to stop putting porn magazines on the shelves for some nonsense reason. Meanwhile, here you can find porn magazines in larger supermarkets (or magazine shops of course) no problem. Kids can't reach that high to get those but teenagers certainly can.

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B1tF1ghter: Hey do you perhaps have any resources regarding specificly JAPANESE DRMs?
I kid of got interested in the matter some time ago and I don't exactly know where to look (btw PCGW is PROFOUNDLY IGNORANT in regards to specificly JAPANESE DRMs and actually also stores so THAT resource is thrown out of the window immediatelly in this regard).
Uff, that's kind of a more complicated question, as different digital stores have different forms as well as several different ones too. Physical games used to be basically DRM-free (save CD-checks or some occasional serial number) but that changed for some in the 2010s.

The largest website DMM/FANZA has generally also the most draconian ones. The standard one is online verification every single time you start the game, for instance. They also block(ed?) non-Japanese from buying their stuff, so it's not that relevant. I wouldn't ever buy anything from them anyway.

DLSite is the website I use personally. They had an international version but they merged with the main Japanese/Korean/Chinese one last month. The international website used to be absolutely amazing UI-wise (pet peeve of mine) and it was definitely the best digital store on the internet. Unfortunately, the main website is not quite as good and the international version got integrated into that one (rather than the other way around). Since it was recent, there is also still a lot of work in progress. As for the DRM, they are very transparent about it. Look at this product page of a very old game by SystemSoft:
https://www.dlsite.com/soft/work/=/product_id/VJ004071.html
The type of DRM is listed very prominently. They also have a good explanation of the different types they use on the website.
https://www.dlsite.com/soft/faq/detail/=/type/user/mid/3/did/350
https://www.dlsite.com/soft/faq/detail/=/type/user/mid/3/did/409
https://www.dlsite.com/soft/faq/detail/=/type/user/mid/3/did/71
https://www.dlsite.com/soft/faq/detail/=/type/user/mid/3/did/76
https://www.dlsite.com/soft/faq/detail/=/type/user/mid/3/did/79
Yes....that many different ones. Japan is serious about piracy (not that it helps anyway). However, since the website is good, you can easily filter out all games with DRM when using advanced search (which is extremely powerful by the way, can't compare it to something like GOG at all).
https://www.dlsite.com/soft/fs (look at additional options for "Exclude copy-protected works")
My main issue with the website is the lack of normal Japanese PC games. But since it's basically mainly for doujins as well as VNs, I guess it's somewhat to be expected. Also, their support is really good. If you ever had to deal with Japanese companies with English support (even Amazon.jp), your eyes will start to water when you see the sophistication of the support.

The last of the "big 3" is Getchu. Never actually interacted with them. I think they are generally fine DRM-wise but probably go the same way as the trove of mid-sized online stores that use that "virtual battery" type of DRM. Apart from the large and mid-sized ones, sometimes companies have their own official digital stores.

So, unlike the West, it's actually all very decentralized due to the fact that, also unlike the West, digital stores emerged very early on. That was, interestingly enough, due to the massive amounts of doujin (indie) games whose scene had been very large since the 90s and moderately large since the 80s.