MayoeruHitori
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Posts posted by MayoeruHitori
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@HonorificsSurvey Oh, wow. Thanks for the chart.
Looks like I underestimated the amount of localizations that keep honorifics. The last localization I personally tried was Dies irae, and the last localizations I paid any attention to were Sorcery Jokers and Leyline which came out about half a year ago, plus I always seem to hear translators criticize honorifics...
Speaking of SJ, you have it listed as Kept, but I'm not sure that's correct, at least, judging from the VNDB screenshot which has "Mr. Senri" instead of Senri-san.
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All right, at this point all I can do at throw up my hands at how much you guys love to talk about statistics...
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All the comments about the the imperfections of polling are quite interesting, and it's nice of @Toranth to provide rational input.
On the topic of honorifics, what @HonorificsSurvey said about how newcomers tend to be least opposed to honorifics surprised me. I always had the impression that since the number of official localizations exploded a few years ago, and official localizations tend to avoid honorifics, newbies wouldn't be as used to honorifics as older fans. Looks like that's not the case.
Now that I think about it, there are potentially multiple reasons that VNs fans tend to care more about honorifics.
- VNs focus relatively more on interpersonal relationships and school life, where honorifics are more meaningful (compared to, say, a slapstick action story).
- VNs let you replay voiced lines if you didn't hear them properly, and click at your own pace to hear them properly, so it's easier for players to pick up on the honorifics.
- Unlike manga which isn't voiced and anime which people are often introduced to via television dubs, VNs as a medium emphasize voiced lines, which contain honorifics for Japanese VNs.
- Also, as was said earlier and @TheCrimsonFucker echoed, the more a person becomes acquainted with Japanese, the more it tend to feel odd when they read a non-literal translation. They pick up on the nuance attached to specific names & words that aren't particles which can be recognized audibly. And as @HonorificsSurvey said, people who play VNs often have experience with voiced anime (and manga which sometimes notes honorifics, esp. scanlations).
So yeah, I'm starting to see a lot of reasons why many VN fans' desire to welcome honorifics won't change easily, even if they're absent from many localizations and many translators swear off them.
People like @AdventSign talk about a war over honorifics, but as far as I can tell, everything has completely settled down:
- For the above reasons and probably others, most VN fans tend to prefer honorifics. I don't think you can change their minds if they already know what honorifics are and attached importance to them. You'd essentially have to convince them that Japanese culture isn't important. Or change the demographics of fans of Japanese VNs through marketing (didn't turn out well for MoeNovel).
- On the other hand, the localization side is firmly opposed to honorifics. There are big ego wars over perceived translation quality on Twitter, and translators know that it's frowned upon to include honorifics instead of trying to finding various ways of conveying them differently (or not at all) which is the traditional in the prideful professional translation industry. In addition, localization companies probably think that they can market their products to a broader audience when VN translations are non-idiosyncratic and remove honorifics. I don't think you can change their minds either, since they're doing what they think is right.
Although @sanahtlig pointed out already that it would've been a little interesting to survey whether people would refuse to play a VN with or without honorifics, I'm personally glad that this survey asked what people think, instead of just asking what they're willing to tolerate in their purchases. Questions along the lines of the latter are something we already get enough of from localization companies' surveys. And I think it's probably not necessary either, because like I said earlier, my impression is that most localizations these days don't have honorifics, and people just tolerate it. (Or does anyone disagree with this?) So honestly, the bottom line is that fans might be a little happier if more localizations included honorifics, but since it's not a do-or-die issue for them, many translators will continue to shy away from honorifics.
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@HonorificsSurvey I agree with a lot of the sentiment of your post there. I just want to chime in to say that I think it's a mistake to suddenly start talking about markets. IMO, this survey has meaning because it deals with the views of VN fans. It doesn't try to account for anyone who has ever or could ever buy a VN.
Once you selectively focus on people who are into one particular VN for whatever reason (like Ace Attorney fans, or Umineko fans) rather than people who like various VNs, I think you've stopped talking about what VN fans generally care about, and are at best instead conducting market research on how to expand the VN fanbase by finding different ways of appealing to people. The survey questions about honorifics are only relevant to people who play a variety of JP->EN translated VNs.
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@Toranth Nice post!
Now that you mention it, I've heard about sample bias and selection bias before. It's just that there are always limitations to polls. After all, you mentioned "these communities do not represent the entirety of the population" but the only way to do that perfectly is to literally ask everyone, otherwise your only choice is to do your best to sample as many diverse parts of the population as possible.
So you're right that it isn't representative. In retrospect, what I probably really wanted to ask was closer to, "Is there a reason to believe the results aren't what the overall community believes?" Though it might be unfair to shift the burden of proof like that. The bottom line is that I found the survey results fascinating, and plan to tentatively accept them as fact about public opinion in the VN community, unless I learn that there's been some major oversight in the way the survey was conducted which would have clearly led to a different result if fixed.
@Decay Hmm. It's true that many fans don't participate in fan communities. VNDB is proof enough of that, since it has over 100,000 users who largely lurk. I had assumed that the existing VN communities would be representative of such people.
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I don't understand, why isn't this poll representative? Where are the VN fans if not in the communities that the pollster here surveyed?
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Nice to see a fellow Psyren fan in 2018.
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I feel like I'm the only person in the universe who finds Trump amusing in many ways, while not supporting him. It's like everyone else is either a crazy Trump supporter who talks in memes and worships the man, or they hate Trump with a fervor and distrust anyone for whom revulsion isn't their primary attitude toward Trump.
Also, lately I've been fixated on the idea of a moe version of Trump, like "My Girlfriend is the President" except more directly based on actual personality traits. Because there's such an insane number of weird stuff Trump does and says. Think about it. "covfefe" would be the equivalent of "uguu". His stupid nicknames for everyone. His smug obsessions with walls and deals. So much of this stuff is appalling to see in a grown man, but I honestly think it could be endearing in a moe character. Basically some combination of Suzumiya Haruhi (charismatic, unreasonable, rampaging) and Aqua from Konosuba (irresponsible, vain, obsessed with her own personal philosophy and deeply fond of her worshipers). Am I broken?
- Silvz, Happiness+, Dreamysyu and 1 other
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1 hour ago, Fred the Barber said:
Honestly, something of an overstatement. Here's what an actually somewhat competent person I ran this by put for the first few lines: "Just thinking of it fills me with nostalgia / the first summer I spent on that island / and the people I met there", versus the borderline nonsense in the Kazamatsuri video (what the hell does this second line even mean, you may have wondered? Well, nothing: it's a mistranslation.): "I had a nostalgic summer / I learned of a new summer / I encountered that on this island."
Yeah, that translation certainly sounds better. It's worth pointing out that the JP (natsukashii natsu ga atta / atarashii natsu o shitta / kono shima de deatta) could be translated literally word-by-word to something like, "There was a nostalgic summer. [ I ] came to know a new summer. [ I ] met [?] on this island." But it flows much better in Japanese. So the Kazamatsuri TL is fairly accurate in a sense, just really stiff and literal. It's also possible to have a more middle-of-the-road TL that approximates the original style but flows fairly well like, "That summer was nostalgic. That summer was fresh. That summer, on that island, I had a fateful encounter." But my experience with most respected VN translators is that they'll prefer to restructure, like the one you talked to did, and they'd probably say that a so-called middle-of-the-road TL is still inexcusably awkward. Preferences are infinite, and it's also not as easy to TL non-literally with little context.
But it's just a PV in the end; as you say, the translation of the VN itself is what matters most. We'll have to see what happens with that.
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I won't be able to judge how important it is to read the uncensored version over the Steam one until I see how they handle Leyline 3, because that's when everything really comes together romantically. (I've always wondered how the Vita port handled this.) Unless you abhor sex scenes, I don't see any reason to not play it safe and read the r18 version.
On 12/26/2017 at 6:12 PM, Freestyle80 said:Ushio's one is more creepy than anything
Creepy because
Spoilermagic was affecting emotions
? I mean, I feel like this exact kind of plot device is extremely prolific, even among manga and anime that target young kids. I have difficulty fathoming why anyone would call it that.
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2 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:
Judging by the Kazamatsuri-"translated" PV for Summer Pockets, I guess we can look forward to another dumpster fire of an English translation for Summer Pockets too. Oh well
At least they got the gist of it. I would personally only use the word translation in quotes to refer to a machine translation or an unapologetic bastardization.
Speaking of Kazamatsuri, they also posted TLs of the heroine scene transcripts, along with the raws if anyone hasn't seen those yet and wants to see what the writing will be like. The protagonist Hairi feels to me like maybe a cross between Yuuichi from Kanon, and Nagisa from Natsuyume Nagisa. It makes sense to me that Niijima would end up there when trying to emulate Key's style.
Rewrite's protagonist was a little too "Romeo" for me (which I love in a Romeo VN, but not a Key VN) and Angel Beats obviously is a completely different character dynamic, so I'm happy to see a return to a more classic Key where the protagonist is a bum wandering around a seasonal landscape having inexplicable conversations with oddball heroines.
I also feel like Key has finally modernized itself. Maybe it's because they got rid of Itaru and recruited the naturally lewd Niijima? The art is sexy without feeling forced, and the heroines' character designs and personalities are interesting without feeling gimmicky. Tsumugi in particular strongly reminds me of Shirokuma, though I won't get my hopes up for Suzumiya Sui.
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The first one (Borderline of Dusk) that just came out is enjoyable by itself, but it's short and light, especially if you don't waste time on the side routes. The second and third ones are much more enjoyable, emotionally gripping, and better rated.
You should play it if you like the look of it and feel like doing so, because it's not like it's not a fairly complete and satisfying story by itself. But there's no rush to do so because the second and third one are on the way. As Narcosis said, it's also possible that they'll fix some parts of the script by then.
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I'll just add, as someone who also read ChuSinGura in Japanese and loved it, that what I did was look at the Steam reviews and ask myself, "Of the people who read the localization, did they love it for the same reasons as people who played it in Japanese? Did they praise it just as much?" And the answer is... yes.
ChuSinGura may have a problematic translation, but what matters to many people is whether it's readable without being significantly disconcerting, and whether it conveys the greatness of ChuSinGura. Bar machine translated crap or glitches that make a game unplayable, most translations accomplish this, and ChuSinGura was no exception.
So the bottom line is that if you're not planning to learn Japanese anytime soon (which is definitely an option, because the difficulty of ChuSinGura is overrated, you'll get used to the antiquated inflections) and you want to play a truly epic, intellectual, hotblooded emotional rollercoaster of a VN, you should play ChuSinGura, because you will probably really enjoy it.
ChuSinGura is basically Muv-Luv Alternative set in Edo Japan. It has a pseudo-non-virgin heroine (she has a daughter, yet the writer deliberately never mentioned the father so it's like he doesn't exist), was from a completely unknown brand, and is full of competent heroines who constantly show up or berate the protagonist, yet despite that it only barely didn't win 2ch's yearly best eroge poll for 2013 (it lost to Navel's fanbase) and has an extremely high rating on EGS, in the past 5 years it's second only to Sakura no Uta when you consider the combination of sample size and median. The only legitimate reasons to not try the localization are that you're extremely peculiar and cannot make yourself ignore the localization's problems, you already know or plan to learn Japanese, you're just getting into VNs and have yet to run out of better ones, or reading VNs is purely a social activity for you and you don't think your Fuwanovel friends will approve of you reading a censored localization--otherwise why the hell would anyone overlook this knowing how big a hit it is?
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14 hours ago, Benji Price said:
Correct.
SpoilerAlthough it's not very relevant for a while, as you would expect given the way it ended.
The second H scene with Ushio that's accessible from the extras menu is also referenced later.
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On 10/16/2017 at 3:43 AM, ShinRaikdou said:
I was planing to read it but noticed on vndb that tag about endings, and now I have 2 questions.
1)
Parting Ending 3.0
Can someone tell me what does it mean, without too much spoilers about story? But feel free to spoil what happened in them(because I hate that type of ending, and better not read it at all, especially with >50h length).
SpoilerDoesn't it mean exactly what it says? The protagonist and heroine, due to melodramatic circumstances, are unable to be together at the end.
If that's not clear enough and you want more spoilers (this is a massive spoiler, so don't read it unless you absolutely have to), what happens in terms of the character dynamic is that
Spoilerthe heroine loses her memories of the protagonist, and the protagonist stoically stays away from her for certain reasons.
Quote2) Does that game has routes with girls as love interest(like moege), or is it like Steins;Gate where you forced to pick only one girl?
This question doesn't make sense to me. How are you contrasting a game with romantic heroine routes and being forced to pick only one girl? The route structure is
Spoilervery similar to Chaos;Head Noah. A main route that you're initially locked into, shorter heroine routes, and a short continuation of the main route that requires you to clear the heroine routes first.
Don't read Chaos;Child if you want a stress-free romance. Read it if you liked Chaos;Head and want something similar.
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As I played the first route of Dies, I noted down any lines that pissed me off. Here's the unedited list, which even includes stuff like translation choices ("Himuro") that I know the localization team will never actually fix to my liking, and also many lines that were just completely unnecessarily rewritten (like the very first one on the list). The lines with (Fine) next to them are the ones that kinda piss me off, but rationally speaking I know they're acceptable. By the way, toward the end of the route, I started trying to do my best to just ignore the text's problems, so that's why I didn't note as many lines there.
Spoiler(most lines are formatted: "what the actual Japanese says" -> "what the localization's text says")
It's our loss. -> The war is lost.
Fighting and killing is how I make a living. -> War is our profession, murder our currency.
Don't you feel you haven't killed enough? -> Do you not hunger for more?
senpai -> Himuro (especially in case of Kasumi, calls her Rea-san to Ren but "Himuro"/senpai to her face)
Hey, I don't like how it kinda sounds like you're saying I'm uncreative. -> Um, y'know, it kinda seems like you're calling me unproductive. Can't say I like it.
I made sure to attend every day, so a single day is fine. -> I make sure to go every day, so one day off won't kill me.
Or should I say... you should just lend it to me, fool. -> Actually, let's not beat around the bush. Hand it over, bitch!
(Fine) Then, don't hold back. Come in. -> No need to be shy, then. Come on, there's room for two.
Goodness... -> God...
The more extreme a [descriptive] phrase, the more cliched it is. -> The more extreme the descriptor, the closer it comes to the realm of commonplace.
#2: I had psychic powers ... Such people did exist according to my knowledge. ???
[nakayoshi sannin] Three good friends. -> The Three Amigos.
(Fine) If you have a problem, say so. Don't leave it to me. -> If you want to complain, do it yourself. I'm not your messenger boy.
[un. ja ne] That's right. Farewell. -> Yes. Later.
*Error: Himuro made her leave on that note.
*Error: [kare no iken ni taishite desu ka] do you mean regarding his viewpoint? -> [By 'what do you think',] are you asking for my opinion?
Perhaps you may ask 'Then, whose?' but for the time being that doesn't matter. -> But then whose? A valid question, but not one that matters at present.
I can't believe even a scrap of that nonsense. -> [Only after death can one find happiness--] for I cannot find it in myself to believe in such hogwash.
(Fine) [chijo] -> sheviant
*Error: a myriad crawling worms
*Error: heed to mutilated corpse
*Awkward: How dared these otherworldly fucks talk about it like it happened on the same planet.
[buki wa dasanee shi] -> I won't summon my 'weapon'
(Fine) [temee, kantan in shinu ja nee zo] -> So try not to die like a bitch!
*Error: Schreiber, and I can tell you ain't like him.
You'd better not be stupid enough to think that you can do anything [to me] with strength at the level of some typical guy with a big ego who acts tough. -> You're not dumb enough to hope you can get out of this just because you can stand against a schoolboy or two, are ya?
*Error: neither breath or blink
And you denied it. Am I wrong? -> And you didn't deny it. Did you?
What do you plan on making me and the others do? -> What do you plan on making me and my friends do?
*Error: I wanted neither to flee, or lose.
[atashi mitai na?] -> Like us?
*Error: Kasumi smiled widely and sat down next ot me.
*Error: Who're calling stupid?
[ko] kid -> girl
(Fine) [yurushite hoshii] -> Your forgiveness would mean the world to me.
*Error: Harbinger
Hey. Then, Kristoff... Do you feel like making a prophecy? -> Hey... you makin' a prophecy or something, Kristoff?
[omae, sonna kao shite jikan ni loose nano ka yo] You're wearing that cool expression even when you're late? -> Don't tell me you're loose about time with that face.
*Error: I wonder if she would eventually move to another city If I could
(Fine) You're saying you got to talking and fell in love. -> You got to talking and fell in love.
"That's right." -> "I see."
[bara-chic me ni au] -> I'm sure you'll be feeling very sore.
(Fine) I want blood -> it wants blood
[kao no sa kana?] -> Maybe because I'm not butt-ugly like you are?
*Error: A spent a short while
[anata wa kuwareteiru tokoro desu] -> you would have been devoured in the blink of an eye.
*Error: I think we had just woken the dragon.
You picked her up from the sort of place you can't even tell me about, you filthy monster?! -> You're not gonna try and dodge that question, are you?! Huh, you rotten bastard?!
*Error: Don't gang up on Ren... / Stop bullying Ren...
(Fine) [gomennasai okaasan mou watashi dame desu] Sorry, Mom, I've gone down the wrong path! -> Sorry, Mom, I can't take it any longer!
(Fine) [aru aru urusei chuugokujin ka omae wa] -> Oh, shut up already. What are you, Santa Claus?
I'll do whatever you ask. / [cagliostro mo sou shiro tte itta shi] Cagliostro told me to.
*Error: where she had claimed to forever remain there.
*Error: ofrsorrow
[yusa shirou tte nda. warurete ii ze. / douse omae, sugu ni kutabacchima ndakara yo] "It's Shirou Yusa. Go ahead and forget it, see if I care. / Not like you're gonna have much time to memorize it before I murder your punk ass."
[yo no naka ni ha saisho kara chigau mono wa goku shosuu shikashi kajutsu ni sonzai suru to watashi wa omotteruno desu] -> "Very few such beings remain in the world... yet I believe that they most certainly exist.
[anzen saku ne] so I decided to play it safe. -> so I figured having a safety plan was best.
I don't want to hear that from you. -> Says the pot to the kettle.
*Error: disappared
*Error: been a remiss
*Error: Trascendence
[aho ga!] -> You dim little shit!
[ore no te ja mijika sugiru da] But my hands don't reach far enough. -> But my hands are too short.
*Error: I explained Shirou
[hansoku ppoi nazo] unfair riddles -> cheating riddles
(OK) [kocchi muite yo] Turn this way. -> Look at me.
[omae no soba zettai hanarenai kara na] I won't ever leave your side. -> 'Cause I don't ever want to leave you...
[mou jigoku ni ochite mo ii yo] -> Now I can go to hell... in peace...
*Error: She wanted to let him to rest
[maa anata wa shojo tte iu daibakudan wo kakaeta mama tsugi no aite wo sagashinasai] -> Well, good luck trying to find another man with that popped cherry of a handicap.
*Error: Rea could not let someone who should rather be celebrating her birthday to die tonight. Not by an circumstances.
*Error: No words to retort her with.
*Error: "Though their circumstances are bit different; Shreiber, Samiel, and Machina are the same as me.
[sonna koto kangaechau yo] -> Think about it.P.S. It's not that I don't respect the work of the localization team. They obviously put a massive amount of effort into the various chants, historical and literary references, and other terms. They obviously care a lot about Dies.
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On 5/13/2017 at 4:22 PM, animalia said:
While this exists. It leaves out Princess Hunting Dungeon Meister, Rhapsody Of God, Sankai Ou No Yubiwa, and Amayui Castle Meister. I am trying to figure where do they fit between the games already in the timelines.
Actually, that timeline does include Himegari AKA Princess Hunting Dungeon Meister. Take another look.
Kami no Rhapsody takes places after Ikusa Megami 2 according to https://www8.atwiki.jp/battle_goddess/pages/95.html . Sankai Ou no Yubiwa is not listed there, either because no one has bothered to play it and put that info on the wiki or because it's difficult to infer. Amayui isn't out yet.
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DanielJp, I had the exact same problem as you and just confirmed the solution. It's necessary to download the TESTAMENT_UPDATE_101a patch at http://3rdeye.jp/support/support.html which Yuno-Gasai mentions in the first post of the thread. That's the official Windows 8 compatibility patch which also contains all the previous patch's fixes, and it even works for Windows 10 which I'm running.
There's also an issue with the torrent on Nyaa. It has a built-in modified TESTAMENT.exe intended to avoid needing to have the disc in the drive or the disc image mounted (NoDVD). However, when you run the 101a patch to fix that bug you've encountered, it replaces that TESTAMENT.exe with one that no longer bypasses the need for the original disc/disc image, so it's pointless. Furthermore, you may have difficulty running the 101a patched TESTAMENT.exe with the Nyaa torrent's modified disc image mounted, if it's not recognized as the original disc.
I personally chose to install the game from the original Shinigami no Testament disc image which was part of a girlcelly torrent on anime-sharing, and am playing it with that original disc image mounted (after applying the 101a patch, to be clear).
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3 hours ago, Decay said:
Well, again, it's worth pointing out that he's not the lead writer here. I think people are overreacting a tad.
I haven't read the article yet, but even if it says, "The story is something Kai came up with when he was 12 years old, has always wanted to bring to life, and will have full creative control over, while Niijima is just someone we hired out of pity after Koikake, who will be responsible for correcting typos" I'd still respond to this news with "Hatsusaku obviously hit just the right note with people, and it will be up to Key to make sure that happens again here."
I care a lot about Niijima Yuu. But yeah, judgments to the effect of "Niijima Yuu is the new face of Key" are a bit premature.
Edit: I've just read the article, and don't see where it says Niijima isn't the lead writer. Kai said that he and Niijima are the people who came up with the structural details of the story, working from the broader setting and key points and conclusion of the story which Maeda proposed; Hasama isn't mentioned there. Kai and Niijima talk about Niijima's prose, and Kai compliments him. Niijima also spends time talking about balancing his individual style with Key's style. In contrast, Hasama just talks about how thrilled he is to be working at Key. Although Kai is the director, I think that's just a job he naturally takes as an experienced employee of Key, and it doesn't mean he is writing the important parts. And Niijima's name is the first one listed under scenario writers, which is a spot I have seen associated with the lead writer. I wouldn't be surprised if the true route and much of the common route were written by Niijima.
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I'm a fan of Niijima Yuu but I know he's controversial, and I blame it on producers giving him too much creative control. Hatsusaku obviously hit just the right note with people, and it will be up to Key to make sure that happens again here.
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No, you're not chuunibyou... You're experiencing "resonance" and slowly awakening to the truth of the world. But the process is not irreversible unless you have encountered those who lurk in the shadows... So as long as you don't encounter them, you will be able to live your life suppressing these feelings and dismissing them as mere adolescent delusions. I pray that you will be able to find peace in place of those whose hands have already been stained with blood...
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Baldr Sky has long deserved a console (non-adult) release in Japan, but hasn't gotten one.
I suspect that either Giga doesn't need or care about more money, or for whatever reason decided it wasn't worthwhile to pursue the profits... Or maybe they felt the story shouldn't be censored.
I do think that the English language VN fanbase overestimates how much Japanese devs care about censorship or artistic freedom. Not everyone is Akamatsu Ken. Some people don't even care about the ero from an artistic perspective. (Others do, as Clock-Up proves.) However, I think it's very possible that Giga does care about censorship, in the case of Baldr Sky.
Sure, the focus of Baldr Sky is cyberpunk. But sex is more integrated with the plot than you'd expect. And sure, you can just censor the sex scenes themselves, even though some of the dialogue is key to character development, and you won't be in too bad shape. But that alone will definitely not be enough. Unless a Steam release of Baldr Sky flies completely under the radar, which isn't really possible, the character of Noi plus the presence of rape in the VN have a strong chance of resulting in massive controversy. Those are the two deal-breakers as far as SJWs are concerned, but just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to sexual plot devices in Baldr Sky.
Baldr Sky is an amazing story and deserves to be played by all kinds of people. But a Steam version that does anything less than gut various parts of the story could definitely result in heavy condemnation from SJWs toward Sekai Project and Giga. In fact, even if they heavily censor the sexual elements of the plot in the Steam version, the SJWs might still go after Baldr Sky if an uncensored version is also released. All they need to do is follow the script of the TV Tropes controversy and post some screenshots from the uncensored version.
Unless the people of Sekai Project can be characterized as fearless proponents of freedom of expression, I would actually assume they'll encourage Giga to not release an 18+ version, and to allow at least a couple parts of the plot to be cut. Meanwhile, even if Giga doesn't want to censor their product, they may defer to Sekai Project when it comes to knowing "what kind of content results in a RapeLay-level controversy".
So this situation with Baldr Sky is actually a rare case where I think it was a smart idea to start a poll to show support for the 18+ version. The best case scenario, in my opinion, is an 18+ release and a Steam release that has several parts of the plot cut out; I can't see a Steam release that only cuts the porn being possible. There's always going to be a risk of controversy with a Baldr Sky localization because of SJWs with tunnel vision and the inevitable popularity of the game, but I think it would be a travesty to only release a version that's as censored as necessary to not cause a shitstorm on Steam.
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In the Japanese industry, I believe that a director is responsible for directly overseeing production of a VN, like a manager, making sure they do their jobs and it all fits together and the final product is up to standards. A lot like what Diamon said, although I think a director is not always involved in details of the script or music.
A director generally has to answer to a producer, who indirectly oversees production in the course of handling the financial side of things, including handling new hires and making sure the director doesn't do something like put NTR in a moege and cause it to bomb. The planning phase is also important in VN development, as many of the basic decisions about the direction of a VN are often made in that phase by one or more people.
QuoteThe great Nakazawa Takumi since I/O is only credited as director and producer, he's not writting anything. So what is his role in games like Root Double, or Secret Game? Who is most important? Writter or director?
Nakazawa is both the director and producer of Root Double, meaning he theoretically had absolute authority over the VN. That said, he didn't personally write the text (except maybe some small parts uncredited, I wouldn't be surprised). Instead, he relied on his scenario writers to do that. I think that if GundamAce were here, he'd recall some of those staff interviews he translated in which the Tsukishima brothers and Nakazawa talked about what roles they played, but I don't. However, I think the strength of Root Double's writers was in making the story work, not leaving any plot holes or inconsistently characterizing anyone or messing up their prose in any way whatsoever. They have a very deliberate style which perfectly suited the needs of a mind like Nakazawa's which comes up with such elaborate stories, but in my opinion someone like Uchikoshi would have to written more endearing (beyond simply likable) characters. In any case, even if Nakazawa is the director and has a clear vision for the VN, the actual writer/s may have a lot of influence in determining the details. By comparing to Zero Escape, it's clear Uchikoshi had a lot of influence in Ever17 and Remember11. Romeo's route in I/O also heavily focuses on his pet theme of alienation.
Having read all 3 of the Secret Game VNs (KQ/SG/Rebellions), I don't know exactly how much influence Nakazawa had over Secret Game as director, but well, Secret Game is just an expanded version of Killer Queen. The setting wasn't drastically changed, and the depth still can't compare to the Infinity series. I think that Nakazawa probably had a negligible influence during the planning stage. However, for Rebellions, another VN that he both directed and produced, the game itself feels very cohesive and complete, just like Root Double did, and certain plot elements remind me of his work. Root Double's writers also worked on large parts of Rebellions, and it's easy to recognize their style.
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1 minute ago, Decay said:
Right, right. Root Double is full of some of the most absurd english terminology imaginable. Got some mixed up.
Oh, I didn't notice that the person who I quoted was you, the reviewer. Since you've already finished the VN, let me just share with you my interpretation:
SpoilerRemember the actual function of Alone Desire? It's the "desire" to be "alone". I won't say any more than that, because I know some people can't help but click on spoilers.
Admittedly, the main reason behind calling it "alone desire" is to match Beyond Communication and fit the pointless "B.C. A. D." symbolism. "Alone Drug" would've been simpler but not as cool, right?
To me, the only really silly part of Root Double is the Biblical references. They basically sound deep but mean nothing. It's just that Nakazawa wanted to go with a "B.C. / A.D." motif. Well, at least it's not as bad as SubaHibi's Alice in Wonderland references.
Quoteedit: Shimuzu Ai isn't in RD according to VNDB.
Spoilerhttp://beautyplanets.web.fc2.com/VADB/game/g_14975.html
I'm referring to a certain spoiler character, who I thought performed quite well during several climactic scenes where she even adopt different personal pronouns and styles of speech... I won't say any more because I know some people can't help but click spoilers.
I'm leaving Fuwanovel, because I'm starting to realize that this community and the VN community at large has hurt me.
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Best of luck to you, as a fellow Ever17 fan.