Issues when Reviewing/Commenting on stuff you like and stuff you don't
Entry posted by Clephas
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Something I'm sure people have noticed in my posts in this blog is that I almost invariably compare VNs I'm reading on to either a genre standard or a similar VN in the past. To be blunt, this is a shortcut, as it is incredibly tedious to write out an extensive analysis of a genre-typical something that is only minutely different from a hundred other VNs of the same type.
Comparisons provide a frame of reference, giving the readers a chance to figure out what they can expect based on previous experiences. In that way, my VN blog is a bit more geared toward relatively 'experienced' readers of VNs than it is to those just getting into reading VNs. After all, if you have never read a charage, you won't have any point of reference to understand what I'm referring to when I indicate something is a charage.
Understand, I recognize this limitation... and in the end I have to shrug. One of the issues I've made a point of reinforcing in the past, when working on VN of the Month, is to eliminate spoilers and try to be as objective as is possible, though in some cases this involves me posting something immediately previous that warns the readers about my prejudices and how they are likely to effect my viewpoint on what I'm reading. I'm categorically prejudiced against Minori, for instance... and just letting people know just how I feel prior to posting on a Minori game (and reminding them each time another one comes out) gives you a realistic expectation of how I will be looking at the VN in question. Similarly, I periodically reinforce the knowledge of my dislike of the charage genre (or rather, my dislike of many of its conventions) to help those who read my blog keep in mind that it isn't exactly my favorite genre.
In the case of chuunige, my prejudice is in perfect opposition to my prejudice with charage. I am naturally inclined to give chuunige and fantasy VNs in general far more leeway than I would ever grant any charage... and thus I almost inevitably make an effort to savage any chuunige I play critically in retrospect. A perfect example would be Zero Infinity and Electro Arms... both are by Light, a company I adore... and both are games that I found to be immensely fun to play. However, in both cases I found myself lingering on their faults in the aftermath, savagely criticizing Zero Infinity's blatant Masada-worship and Electro-Arms' prolific sub-heroine paths and obsession with busty main heroines. Did this mean I didn't like them? Quite the opposite. I enjoyed both immensely... but I felt obligated to be even harsher than them than I would have with a charage.
Similar things occur whenever I find myself getting deeply interested in a VN. I feel a sick need to nitpick at something, the more I'm enjoying it, as if I were some masochistic fanboy that likes driving himself into a rage. This is a disease that has crept in as I've been posting on VNs, making it difficult for me to just sit back and enjoy the ride with many that I otherwise would have at least given a better chance.
Understand, some of those VNs I would have enjoyed immensely before I hit the three hundred VN mark. Unfortunately, my habit of blogging on just about everything I play has left me with a sense of obligation to those who read this blog, to be as unbiased as it is possible to be or to at least warn those reading about my prejudice and bias beforehand.
As a clarification, I was never particularly fond of the dating stage of a charage heroine's path... just to let you know. 'Cute' interactions grow stale really quickly when you've seen it a hundred times before (literally) in all its permutations. It is also why I inevitably praise routes that step off the beaten path if they don't suck outright.
- Kaguya, Chronopolis, RedK and 2 others
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