Mr Poltroon
-
Posts
5949 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
66
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Events
Blog Comments posted by Mr Poltroon
-
-
I never actually finished the first season, despite holding it in high esteem. Probably just busy at the time.
Still, there's something going on with anime these days. Sequels to old stuff returning. I think the mainstream popularity may be causing a shift in the purpose and value of anime.
-
I also read a good few volumes of this Light Novel. There are things I like, and things I dislike, as I mention here, but this is a nice perspective.
It's actually a nice reminder to eventually move forward with it. With me no longer having the occasion to use public transports these past couple of years, I've simply read less Light Novels and didn't progress on most I have saved up.
-
-
Not to discount your initial premise or the entire post, because I think what I will say won't disprove it or anything, but I'm somewhat willing to bet that the majority of people that read Umineko for the first time do not fit into the pattern you have described.
Many, including myself, who are fans of the mystery genre are not actually interested in solving the mysteries. The interest is in having characters be smart and do it all for us so we can be amazed. This particular type of reader is often kicked in the shin by Umineko which does not actually bother to solve its mysteries, and even when it does, it does not do so correctly*. Indeed, the novel itself dedicates many of its scenes to giving the readers clues and trying to get them to actually think and try to solve the mystery. Many of the scenes where meta Battler is alone introspecting or talking with someone else as an aside of the main plot it can often be them encouraging him to try and solve things or explaining why it's not an impossible task.In light of all this, it is very difficult for me to swallow that the novel did not intend to have you read it as a mystery at the start. Thankfully that isn't quite what you said and I ultimately agree that whilst the novel wants you in mystery-solving mode for the tale it wants to tell, that mode isn't the one that'll get you to the truth/meaning/whatever of the scenes.
On the topic of my own replay, I leaned heavily into the mystery-solving aspect for my readthrough because I didn't try to solve anything my first way through, and by the end the game does give you the key pieces of info to put things together. Still, most of the more abstract scenes I do "ignore" from a mystery solving perspective even now, choosing to read them purely as character moments. I don't have it in me to try parsing them in any other way.
*Which does not matter, because to somebody who isn't solving things, there are a tremendous amount of scenes of "awesome music is playing and this character might be doing something amazing" when they actually are not (Battler's the master nothing-doer while looking awesome). This works to amaze inattentive people anyhow, so Umineko's not so bad even from this perspective.
-
13 hours ago, Shaun said:
Probably not the right place to ask this but what are EVN? I've actually never heard that term before until now and I wasn't aware of the blog until littleshogun posted in it (since I'm following him). I've even read over 100 visual novels so you would think I would of heard this term somewhere along the way but I haven't until now.
EVN, a term that stands for English Visual Novel, and it refers to Visual Novels that were developed by English-speaking developers. Other similar terms that might be used are OELVN (Originally English Language Visual Novel) or Western VN.
Examples consist of Highway Blossoms or Mutiny!!, and, of course, the titles in his Steam Curator page.
- Shaun and Plk_Lesiak
-
2
-
"Thank you all for caming along for this ride!"
No problem, mate. I do love some good caming about. -
If you look at any list that recommends the "best" then the same titles will naturally appear there, because they're the more popular ones, the ones more people like.
If you are looking to find visual novels you do not know about, you will need to venture into recommendation threads with veterans asking about them, or, better still, make one yourself, because I assure you there are people who will know of Visual Novels you may not. You just need to show what you've played or what you like.
Discussion itself mostly takes place about either the big famous titles or the bigger recently released things, so you won't find obscure VNs by reading the discussions that are had, most of the time. So in that sense I can agree (though if you start threads about obscure titles it is likely that people who've played it before will at least browse it).
Do you know about Symphonic Rain? Play that without looking it up any further if it looks like it might interest you (and you haven't already).
-
Like, certainly, I appreciate that The Heart of the Woods masterful experience, but I know what I'm getting into if the premise is 'a goth girl meets a fairy girl and yuri ensues'. I was not expecting ebi's usual stuff, and actually hoping it wouldn't be in. This is all great news to me.
-
In your example, why use an ellipsis and not a comma whilst retaining the wait command?
-
Sable has no Grimoire 1/10.
I'll hopefully be elaborating on my overall thoughts in a more appropriate thread.
-
On 10/07/2020 at 10:18 AM, Plk_Lesiak said:
I'll be curious what are your impressions when you actually get deeper into the game. This is a pretty unusual story in that while it isn't completely devoid of romantic tension, whenever it happens you can expect Sable to actively resist it, as romance is way down on his list of priorities. It's somewhat SNAFU-esque, but without misanthropy being the driving motivation of the protagonist.
And in the sequels expanding on the specific routes, at least two of which are in the work by Zetsubou, the romance finally blooms to some extent. I personally thought the game made it pretty clear with the flow of the story that romance is not the point even when it's most present, but I imagine many people would be confused why a game all about heroine routes, some of whom are obviously into Sable, handle things in such a way. :>
I've completed Lisha's as well as Rei's and Eth's. I have to admit, from your words, I had the impression that Sable's actions would mean there'd be no romance, but that is clearly untrue.
As harem/love triangle anime/manga have (unfortunately) taught us, romance does not require the involved parties to be dating or even recognise feelings for one another. This game does that in spades, with Sable being loved and loving in return, though not in a romantic way. The routes often end with Sable paired up with somebody who has affection for him and to whom he cannot at this point avoid showing affection to. His intent may not be romantic, but in practice it contains all the feelings and affections I hope to attain from regular romance stories (and which sometimes are absent!). I have zero cause for complaint. Lisha's route, for instance, was beautiful with what took place within, as far as feeding my need for trust and affection.
-
55 minutes ago, Plk_Lesiak said:
I'll be curious what are your impressions when you actually get deeper into the game. This is a pretty unusual story in that while it isn't completely devoid of romantic tension, whenever it happens you can expect Sable to actively resist it, as romance is way down on his list of priorities. It's somewhat SNAFU-esque, but without misanthropy being the driving motivation of the protagonist.
And in the sequels expanding on the specific routes, at least two of which are in the work by Zetsubou, the romance finally blooms to some extent. I personally thought the game made it pretty clear with the flow of the story that romance is not the point even when it's most present, but I imagine many people would be confused why a game all about heroine routes, some of whom are obviously into Sable, handle things in such a way. :>
I finished Tix's route, which I'm not sure the game even had when you reviewed it.
Regardless, as odd as it is, I both love romance and intimacy and the direct opposite:
Sable is reminding me of Nemui from Mutiny!!. A character I deeply loved for being entirely disinterested in sex in a game and world completely all for it. She was wonderful, as is Sable. As you've said, Sable isn't aromantic, but it's nowhere near his current priorities.
Tix's route
Spoilerends with the promise of the pixie attempting to get him to fall for her within the next two years, and nothing I've seen so far makes me think that it won't turn out to be the case, in the future, after much interaction.
-
On 31/08/2018 at 9:42 PM, Plk_Lesiak said:
For whatever reason, I've been interested in this VN since I saw this review, but I clearly didn't read it because I didn't know Sable was the protagonist.
Anyways, I'm finally reading this and goodness me how I appreciate a magic school story of this scale with loads of characters and interactions. I haven't read any route yet. In fact, I have no idea how I'd get into a route, since the choices I've made so far have put me all over the place talking to all sorts.
I'm properly warned not to expect romance, and frankly I'm not looking for it if the game isn't trying to tease it (as I've found out, that's the reason I tend to dislike a lack of romance; it's because it's almost always teased and used as a hook to keep one reading until the end).Sable is an absolutely fantastic protagonist as he is. From his interests to his interactions, where he's too honest for his own good and where he gets the exact same impressions from conversations as I do ("Something was strange about her today." or "She has a number of flaws, but maliciousness isn't one of them.").
-
37 minutes ago, Clephas said:Well, my point is that when the judge and jury are the same person and people aren't allowed representation, it isn't going to be like Ace Attorney, hahaha.
The gameplay is actually similar, which was what I was referencing. When I say I thought it was going to be a rip-off, I mean I thought it would borrow the gameplay elements, as it does, but not be that good in terms of gameplay and story. However, it is quite good at it.
-
The game really really surprised me positively. I expected an ace attorney rip-off and some sex scenes at the end to call it an eroge, but I've found that both those areas are actually remarkably good!
-
8 minutes ago, Plk_Lesiak said:
Yup, it's the original post, but I also cheated on the publishing date to jump it to the top of the list when I added the two extra titles.
...but I'm also kind of apathetic about making stuff visible on Fuwa lately, not many people seem to browse the blog posts any more. BTW, which game on the list stole your heart? :3
So I already knew about about the Manami one since I'm actually keeping up with the author myself, and it's something I'll get to someday.
Of the rest of the original post I became particularly interested in Package Chat and I think I went as far as downloading it? Anyhow, today I'm actually quite likely to try it out, since I've somehow motivated myself to try shorter things, so much so as to risk venturing onto the realm of fan games, for example.
(Have you played Life is Strange? Did you know it has a fan VN 'Love is Strange'? I played a route and it was the sweetest thing.
As a result I've been inspired to infiltrate the den of wolves that is the Doki Doki Fan Game/Mod community and I've found a couple of things I might try there. Edit: Not the one you reviewed because I trust your judgement and out-of-characterness kills me inside.) -
There's a like of mine here. Is this the original post except you edited it? I had no idea it had been updated!
If the (updated) were at the start of the title then one would be more likely to realise something has changed when they see it in the recent blogposts box (for long titles the second half does not appear in the box).
-
I didn't notice this blog post until now. I'm very happy this got another chance. I can only hope this is a story I can enjoy.
-
1 hour ago, Plk_Lesiak said:
Reading this kind of stuff always makes me realize what a weirdo I am. I never saw school as oppressive. I'm still very fond of pretty much every bit of "useless knowledge I've gathered there and was too oblivious to most things around me to even stress out about my outsider's status. Maybe also because I never experienced negative parts of school life beyond mild teasing.
But I'm also the kind of person to whom rebelling against their circumstances is pretty foreign concept. Or rather, it took something extremely f***** up for me to actually act out. School was comforting. Clear rules, clear goals, clear future. I could stay in such system forever. You get a lot of "freedom" when you get out of it, but I feel it serves l best for people that have the energy to conquer the world. I have yet to find any use for it.
So, if I read this VN, I find it quite likely I would feel nothing. I wonder how many people like me are there..
It's so crazy, the way everything was so foreign to me. Everything the girls did or pushed the protagonist to do... It's so out of the realm of possibility, me even considering it or sharing any of those feelings, that I enjoyed the strange, foreign experience.
As you might guess, I share your opinion.
-
On 17/09/2016 at 11:36 AM, Dergonu said:Well I mean, you CAN always use a machine translator, if you really want to play it. Not ideal, but with simple slice of life games like this, it should at least provide a readable result.
@Dergonu Good recommendation. I'll go do this right now.
-
-
I 100%'d this game. And quite loved it, in fact. Yes, weeb stylistic choices and all that, but I was otherwise fond of the writing.
Super cynical view on the idol industry, but all is well because Starnova represents the good side and they always win in the end (Bad ends? What's that? Can you eat those? I skipped through them.).
EvenSpoilerQuasar was actually not that bad a few years past because of idealistic girls. If you inject a bit of idealism in, we can save the idol industry!
I mean, this guy was almost bloody likeable by the end of the sodding thing.
I mean, this isn't necessarily a commentary on the actual state of the industry or anything. It's an hyperbolic version created specifically to make the main girls an even bigger shining beacon of hope and all that.
This is what'll save the idol industry.
Even if reality tries to get in the way.
But yeah, the girls are good, the producer is good(?), and in stories the good will win in the end.
Sometimes it's more like this, but whatever.
-
-
Waiting for that review.
Does it actually have readable english?
NEWS Tearmoon Empire gets an Anime Adaption
in Zero's Talk
A blog by Zero Mr. Zoll VN.Info in General
Posted
Hmm... The biggest strength of the novels, I felt, was tied to the writing (specifically, narration and descriptions). I look forward to see how it fares in anime form. The premise itself is already good enough to warrant interest.