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Analogue: A Hate Story (western VN review/retrospection)


Plk_Lesiak

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analogue_1_by_szafalesiaka-dbvassr.jpg

Analogue: A Hate Story is not a title that necessarily has to be „discovered” or that wasn’t properly appreciated in the time when it came out – among all the VNs developed in the West, it might as well be the one most highly regarded and popular within “proper” visual novel fandom, at least before the recent appearance of Doki Doki Literature Club. Still, it’s a very important game for me personally and for the idea behind this blog, for two reasons. First, Analogue was the first visual novel I’ve ever played and a piece of media that affected me emotionally and intellectually like few other before it or since. It was not only stuck in my head for a long time, as a vivid and emotionally striking memory, but maybe even left a lasting mark on my way of thinking and my moral stances. Second, it’s a perfect example of the power of VNs as a formula that even a single person, or a tiny team can use to create something remarkable and touching, given enough effort and talent. Before I go into details of the game, I have to mention a very good review by Meru that was already featured on Fuwa frontpage – I agree with most points there and encourage you to check it out, but beware, it’s somewhat spoiler-ish. As the game relies heavily on its plot twists, I myself will try to reveal as little of the story as possible.

Read the full article at evnchronicles.blogspot.com

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2 hours ago, MaggieROBOT said:

I didn't knew that such a powerful story was hidden behind a simple interface like this. Interesting.

When I'm writing something like this I'm always a bit afraid that I'm overhyping it and setting people up for disappointment, because how you respond to this kind of story is probably very much a personal matter. But Analogue is definitely much more than it seems at first glance. I still have to play through Love's first VN, Digital: A Love Story, which is pretty much a text game in a retro internet browser stylistics, but also gets a lot of praise. Minimalism seems to be her default style. :)

Edited by Plk_Lesiak
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I actually thought the music was quite charming. Certain tracks were associated to certain families or themes, and I really got to know them over time.

Despite my enjoyment of both this game and the sequel having been on more or less the same level when I played them, I can say the sequel left a much deeper impression on me than this one.

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1 hour ago, Mr Poltroon said:

I actually thought the music was quite charming. Certain tracks were associated to certain families or themes, and I really got to know them over time.

Despite my enjoyment of both this game and the sequel having been on more or less the same level when I played them, I can say the sequel left a much deeper impression on me than this one.

I still have to get to the sequel. :) 

TBH, I hate a problem with reading "serious" VNs lately, I need to have a bit of clear mind for those and my mood was so bad in past few months I mostly ended up reading bad or silly ones just to relax. "Hate+" and "Digital: A Love Story" are high on my list but in reality always lose to a thing like Nekopara or some obscure crap I read just for the fun of mercilessly picking it apart. ;)

I'll definitely get to those two around the winter break though, otherwise this whole "western VN appreciation" formula will get a bit hollow. :)

PS Next week's review will be One Thousand Lies, I hope you'll enjoy it. ;)

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I still have to read the analogue series, I heard so many gud things 'bout it, and also the facts that it deals with psycological things (which I like). 

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