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Nerathim

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  1. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from Useless-san in Tokyo Babel FuwaReview Discussion   
    Great review, but you could've also mentioned how well researched was the biblical mythology stuff. It gives a fair share of uniqueness to the VN.
  2. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from akaritan in The House in Fata Morgana Review Discussion   
    I was so sure you'd answer something along those lines. I didn't mean that it was the ONLY technique among many others, but given your apparent disdain for flashbacks I found wise to highlight that this particular technique was not used in an attempt to take the easy road but because it suited the story really well.
     
    The thing is that all these flashbacks are more akin to short stories than flashbacks. And labelling them as nothing more than lazy infodump is inappropriate since a great deal of care has been put into making them genuinely entertaining. They don't focus only on past events, they also take their time to introduce a historical context, an atmosphere (and we're also talking about music here, let's not forget that). These flashbacks (or short stories) happen in very differents periods of time that are cleanly separated. Saying that it always negatively affects the story couldn't be more wrong; and we have to thanks the VN medium for that as it allows a synergy between text, sound and visuals. When I'm reading you, I get the feeling that resorting to flashbacks is always a sign of some kind of writing failure that VNs readers will let slide because they're uneducated peasants who have never touched a real novel in their life (even if my bookshelf is at risk of collapse) and prefer to jack off to pretty ideas that remind them of their favorite shonen. You support that claim saying that it halts the forward progress of present events, but in Fata Morgana's case, present events aren't that important. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if someone got bored in the scenes happening between the flashbacks. But as you said, there is the possibilty that flashbacks can be done right and Fata Morgana is one example of that.
    Those long scenes of "nothingness" are everything except nothingness and even though developing emotional ties may be one of the reasons for the use of these flashbacks, they're also here to contribute to the setting as I previously said. I wouldn't have enjoyed Fata Morgana as much as I did without being immersed into different eras, pretty subjective you'd say but it has a great thing going for it and that's its originality. For instance, VNs and videogames (they both share the same kind of immersion, you may compare novels and visual novels when it comes to writing style but as mediums they don't have much in common when you are "experimenting" them)  throwing you into a believable version of the industrial revolution are a pretty rare occurence nowadays.
    And that's the something you don't find mentioned in your extract of Conjueror's review, that I don't agree with anyway (opinions!). Because plot devices to play with the reader’s expectations and emotions  are definitely present and I feel like that's his main complaint here. Otherwise, he brings out the same point as solidbatman : there are pacing issues near the end  that people interpret in different ways. That's all there is to it. 
    Fata Morgana is mainly loved for its uniqueness and even if people may have (justified) qualms with the execution it doesn't necessarily make the story a failure in that aspect.
    Even though it may be a problem that the execution didn't bother EVERYONE as it should be because the factors we use to define good writing precede even the universe and are far beyond the reach of mere mortals. Any story that can't boast Flaubert's level of prose should be ridiculed after all. Seriously, I understand the fact the we can make a distinction between "good" and "bad" writing but it should never become a criteria for people other than ourselves imo. Establishing rules that are to be followed if one wants to create a "work of art" is counterproductive, this kind of proselytism is the best way to kill innovation and creativity. It's like indirectly forcing an author to do something that pleases instead of something personal and I am against that, authors are free to agree to the "good writing" conventions if they want (and to the great pleasure of the majority of people who will read them) but making an absolutely objective analysis of any kind of writing is impossible. Negative criticism affects people far too much and I believe the only individual able to judge a work is the artist himself.
    Well, most people in research of writing advice want to do something that pleases anyway.
  3. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from akaritan in The House in Fata Morgana Review Discussion   
    That's not really fair of you to claim that, since, as you said, you didn't read Fata Morgana and can't pinpoint anything concrete. I'm not saying that every single writing technique, as tedious for the reader as it can be, is justified as long as it's for the sake of the plot. In that particular case, I don't think it was used badly, at least it didn't feel that way at all (and I am rather sensible to pacing in general, given my short attention span). The story puts a big emphasis on the idea that people never act out of ill will (at least never totally). The frequent changes of perspective and the numerous flashbacks are necessary to the main thematic in order for it to be adressed effectively. Why? Because unlike the standard use of flashback in VNs, they're not here to reveal anything particularly novel in the grand scheme of things that could have been told in some other, more entertaining, way. They're mainly used in order to develop an emotional closeness between the character and the reader as you are put in the said character's shoes. Imo, the flashbacks did well at what they wanted to do : bringing out, in a very concrete way, the context that led a character to act in one particular way. (that is often already known to the reader, even if only partially).
    And to be honest, Fata Morgana revolves a LOT around many kinds of "flashback", a very conscious choice since they're part of, easily, 95% of the script if we had to cut it in parts. In that way it feels really consistent and coherent.
  4. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from Silvz in The House in Fata Morgana Review Discussion   
    That's not really fair of you to claim that, since, as you said, you didn't read Fata Morgana and can't pinpoint anything concrete. I'm not saying that every single writing technique, as tedious for the reader as it can be, is justified as long as it's for the sake of the plot. In that particular case, I don't think it was used badly, at least it didn't feel that way at all (and I am rather sensible to pacing in general, given my short attention span). The story puts a big emphasis on the idea that people never act out of ill will (at least never totally). The frequent changes of perspective and the numerous flashbacks are necessary to the main thematic in order for it to be adressed effectively. Why? Because unlike the standard use of flashback in VNs, they're not here to reveal anything particularly novel in the grand scheme of things that could have been told in some other, more entertaining, way. They're mainly used in order to develop an emotional closeness between the character and the reader as you are put in the said character's shoes. Imo, the flashbacks did well at what they wanted to do : bringing out, in a very concrete way, the context that led a character to act in one particular way. (that is often already known to the reader, even if only partially).
    And to be honest, Fata Morgana revolves a LOT around many kinds of "flashback", a very conscious choice since they're part of, easily, 95% of the script if we had to cut it in parts. In that way it feels really consistent and coherent.
  5. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from XReaper in Rose Guns Days Review Discussion   
    It must be the only VN from R07 of such a length that isn't terribly paced and filled with dubious humour though (that is still present in some scenes but to a much lesser extent than in his previous works, especially Higurashi).
    A great read for people tired of enduring the same anime tropes again and again that are so common in many VNs.
     
  6. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from XReaper in Rose Guns Days Review Discussion   
    The best translated VN atm
  7. Like
    Nerathim reacted to Kaguya in Rose Guns Days Review Discussion   
    http://reviews.fuwanovel.net/2016/06/08/rose-guns-days/
    It's pretty good. You should take a look into it. 
  8. Like
    Nerathim reacted to Suzu Fanatic in What are you playing?   
  9. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from akaritan in The House in Fata Morgana discussion   
    Qualifying atmospheric tracks as forgettable is a blasphemy. And there are like, more than 20 songs in glorious Portuguese, that's quite a lot.
  10. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from Vorathiel in The House in Fata Morgana discussion   
    Qualifying atmospheric tracks as forgettable is a blasphemy. And there are like, more than 20 songs in glorious Portuguese, that's quite a lot.
  11. Like
    Nerathim reacted to Decay in The House in Fata Morgana discussion   
    Here's an example of one of the vocal tracks:
     
  12. Like
    Nerathim reacted to Zakamutt in The longer the better?   
    Filler is in the eye of the beholder. There are well-liked series that are purely SoL / comedy in the non-vn world; it's legit material. I don't think the view that the meat of a moege-style VN is purely the character routes and drama or whatever is to be considered some kind of objective truth. If you consider attaching the two to each other as objectively wrong or whatever, well, a lot of people would disagree with you.
    Length lets you get depth - of emotion, of story, of character. For more emotion, try to make people get to know and love the characters before doing things to them (usually through SoL or more quiet moments). For depth of story, write a longer story arc. For depth of character, you can use both. If you've seen me groan about OELVNs promising a zillion routes with an alarmingly low estimated playtime, the shallowness likely to occur is why.
    I do think that knowing how much is enough is a skill, and a better writer can write a story of the same depth in less words. However, I think the best way of going about the whole deal is to infuse scenes, even seemingly trivial ones, with meaning - this can be details picked up later as plot points, or making sure to actually give you those reasons for liking characters, or showing reasons why protag-kun and bishoujo-chan would want to bump naughties. One Thousand Lies comes to mind somewhat, as a decent few of its more ridiculous SoL scenes shine in an entirely new light after you know more about the characters. It also has SoL scenes that are just for fun though - but that's also an emotional curve thing! A balance keeps people interested. This can be engagement / energy based or tone-based.
    ...Uhh, I think I went off on a tangent... anyway, I like long VNs, but they don't have to be. I'm quite enamored with shorter VNs and doujins for this reason. I think length is primarily useful when it comes to making you attached to a cast of characters; otherwise, it really just needs to be as long as the story being told ""should"" be.
    I'm a NEET and have fuckloads of time though.
  13. Like
    Nerathim reacted to douggle in What are you playing?   
    Finished Sekien no Inganock, and holy fucking shitballs, why didn't I read this sooner? Seriously the atmosphere, the music, the charcters the story I think I may have found my next 10 on my vndb no exaggeration 
  14. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from Silvz in The House in Fata Morgana Released!   
    http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=685653577
    Here you go
     
    I'm definitely having a blast with Fata Morgana. I can't believe a non-chuuni VN can be this good.
    The art is undoubtedly the best you can find in any translated VN (or even any VN at at all), the soundtrack is on par with Umineko's in term of raw quality and I don't even need to mention the absolutely unique atmosphere resulting from the two previously mentioned qualities. It has me spellbound to such an extent I am able to overlook any kind of questionable pacing.
  15. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from XReaper in MangaGamer: 6 new announcements at Anime Central, 1 of which new partner   
    New partner is Nitroplus and Muramasa will be released in the West.
    Because JAST will never do it
  16. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from XReaper in The House in Fata Morgana Released!   
    I'm like super-duper excited for this VN, everything in Fata Morgana looks so unique and "mature" (it might also be one of the very few VN to have a good artstyle) I can't wait to read it. Fata Morgana definitely contrasts with many other VNs and I'm really happy it got translated, I guess it's one of my most expected titles along with Himawari and SubaHibi.
    I'm still worried about one thing though, I read that the prose and the way of talking of some characters weren't really suited to the historical context which is a real shame if it's true.
  17. Like
    Nerathim reacted to Decay in The House in Fata Morgana Released!   
    (official site)
    Novectacle's gothic horror VN The House in Fata Morgana is finally translated and released on MG's site, and will be released on Steam shortly (19 hours, according to Steam's countdown). Just what is Fata Morgana about? The author wrote a good summary on MG's blog:
    It's a very highly rated VN on both EGS and VNDB, and has received some pretty serious acclaim from members of the community in recent times. And the spoiler-filled content advisory that I very briefly glanced at indicates that it deals with some rather dark themes.  I'm a little bit worried that it will underperform, however. It's a very unique VN, and uniqueness is not always a selling point for a lot of people. If you're one of those people who don't like ever leaving your comfort zone, I suggest that you at least give the demo a shot. This VN deserves to be a hit. I'm eager to start reading it, but it may unfortunately be a while before I'm able to. 
    Anyone else excited for this?
  18. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from Canicheslayer in Gahkthun Review Discussion   
    What bothers me with this review is that I get the impression the VN was judged based on a set of already existing criterias that obviously doesn't fit with every kind of fiction. It feels like the reviewer expected stuff that wasn't to be expected. What stands out the most in my opinion, and what sums up my thoughts quite well is this sentence : " It removes any trace of surprise from the story, as well as any excitement for what’s coming next, and it gets really boring really quickly", I wonder when the effect of surprise became an absolute requirement to write a good story. And there are many other claims like that one in the review.
    A very superficial read in my opinion as I can hardly see any good faith in it, not a single line is dedicated to the interpretation of the story and its themes or even to the questioning of the author's intent; when something doesn't seem right at first sight then it's flat out bad. It's a bit sad. What a Beautiful is a series that tend to be a lot more symbolic than explicit and I feel like the reviewer tried to weigh an elephant with a ruler instead of a weighing scale
    I might be a little harsh but I found the " I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to a normal reader" to be rather unpleasant.
  19. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from Arcadeotic in Gahkthun Review Discussion   
    The characterisation of Tesla and Neon was done well enough if you ask me, and I don't see the necessity of according too much importance to the other characters who obviously don't need a lot of attention and don't fail at playing their part imo. About the structure, it fits the visual novel really well and instead of taking it as a whole you should look at every chapter as a single story (even if they are related to each others), I don't know if you saw Mushishi but they're similar in the way that chapters very rarely follow each other directly and instead they feel more "distanced". You're reading a story with small stories in it, and each story in Gahkthun delivers the same moral (if I remember correctly). And fight scenes are used to end these stories, you can say they drag but at the same time you can consider that every "enemy" has to face some kind of struggle against the Radiance (Tesla) and everything it represents, if I wanted to further prove my point I'd have to give my own interpretation for each battle but I guess you get the general idea. A lot of the stuff that is criticized is, imo, intentional AND justified, that's what is the most important; if you can find a meaning in a lot of stuff that may not click with you, well, it won't change the fact that you don't like it but you can't say it's inherently flawed as the author obviously had something in mind and didn't write about nothing. The fact that he didn't like it whether he reflected on what bothered on him or not doesn't annoy me at all but if you write a review you have to be conscious that your standards aren't everyone else's and even if it's still nothing more than an opinion, reviews are still taken very seriously and that's a shame.
     
  20. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from Silvz in Gahkthun Review Discussion   
    What bothers me with this review is that I get the impression the VN was judged based on a set of already existing criterias that obviously doesn't fit with every kind of fiction. It feels like the reviewer expected stuff that wasn't to be expected. What stands out the most in my opinion, and what sums up my thoughts quite well is this sentence : " It removes any trace of surprise from the story, as well as any excitement for what’s coming next, and it gets really boring really quickly", I wonder when the effect of surprise became an absolute requirement to write a good story. And there are many other claims like that one in the review.
    A very superficial read in my opinion as I can hardly see any good faith in it, not a single line is dedicated to the interpretation of the story and its themes or even to the questioning of the author's intent; when something doesn't seem right at first sight then it's flat out bad. It's a bit sad. What a Beautiful is a series that tend to be a lot more symbolic than explicit and I feel like the reviewer tried to weigh an elephant with a ruler instead of a weighing scale
    I might be a little harsh but I found the " I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to a normal reader" to be rather unpleasant.
  21. Like
    Nerathim reacted to Fred the Barber in What are you playing?   
    I agree wholeheartedly. That last route's ending being so well-executed is most of why I think so highly of Comyu and why I recommend it to people so often. The atmosphere it built, the CG, and the music all combine for a really remarkable moment. It's probably my favorite VN ending, and one of my two favorite moments in any VN (only Gahkthun has a scene near the end that competes with it).
  22. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from Suzu Fanatic in Tokyo Babel Released!   
    This posts triggers me.
    Basically, you're judging the VN out on the two first hour of reading? Didn't you think the whole writing mess at the beggining was intentional because it revolves around Gethel who is a REAL MESS of a girl?
    It doesn't matter anyway, you probably only or didn't reach the opening so try to get to finish one route instead of making hasty judgements.
  23. Like
    Nerathim reacted to Decay in Tokyo Babel Released!   
    The prologue's disjointed writing is due to the circumstances of how Gethel has trapped Sorami. Her entire world was in flux, at that point. The writing reflected that.
    Once they make it to Pandora, things become much more consistent and "normal." There are some issues related to what you were complaining about, like how the game will switch from action to comedy and back from time to time, but generally speaking the format for each route is slice-of-life character building and training -> first combat encounter -> celebration and another brief SoL sequence, w/ maybe more training -> action action action action. The balance and pacing can feel a little off at times, but I wouldn't necessarily qualify it as a "mess."
  24. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from Zenophilious in Tokyo Babel Released!   
    This posts triggers me.
    Basically, you're judging the VN out on the two first hour of reading? Didn't you think the whole writing mess at the beggining was intentional because it revolves around Gethel who is a REAL MESS of a girl?
    It doesn't matter anyway, you probably only or didn't reach the opening so try to get to finish one route instead of making hasty judgements.
  25. Like
    Nerathim got a reaction from XReaper in Tokyo Babel Released!   
    This posts triggers me.
    Basically, you're judging the VN out on the two first hour of reading? Didn't you think the whole writing mess at the beggining was intentional because it revolves around Gethel who is a REAL MESS of a girl?
    It doesn't matter anyway, you probably only or didn't reach the opening so try to get to finish one route instead of making hasty judgements.
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