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Zalor

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Blog Comments posted by Zalor

    Clephas

    Posted

    I want to help you out, but from my perspective they all look equally trashy (I hate moe and loli designs with a passion). But going by your descriptions the first one seems most interesting, which is ironic because its cover art left the worst impression on me of the three. I'm going to trust in your impression though and say go for the first one.

    Zalor

    Posted

    On 2/28/2022 at 4:12 PM, wuy3 said:

    Hi Zalor, I'm not sure if you'll ever see this response to a post you made in 2017. I see you made a recent blog post in 2021, so maybe you are still active in this forum. Regardless, on the off chance you do see this... I just want to thank you sincerely for taking the time to make this post. I'm sure it took a few hours (probably more) of your time to write something like this up, but you really did impact the enjoyment of Subahibi for me (and so many others! Your Subahibi post alone has 18k views now).

    Hey, thank you very much for reaching out and posting that! I do appreciate it! I still visit here on occasion, but it was actually through an email notification that I noticed this post. 

    I'm glad I encouraged the reread. The cyclical nature of Subahibi is one of its most fascinating aspects to me. The fact that Rabbit Hole 1 is both the most boring (on a first reading) and most interesting (on a second reading) chapter is a truly unique achievement. I've never read any other work where the entire meaning of the first chapter changes upon finishing the work. And that cyclical aspect emphasizes that point Ayana makes about eternity in one of her rants with Takuji. And yes, it also recontextualizes everything Zakuro says in a truly beautiful way.

    Zakamutt

    Posted

    Sorry to hear about the health concerns you had earlier in the year. Still appreciate the help you gave me btw. For something designed to be niche, I'm reasonably proud of the (final) build I currently have of Digital Seclusion and your help improved it a lot from the first public version. Often I'm hesitant to ask for help. Not because I don't think I need it, but because I'm paranoid that nobody is willing to help me. So even though you were rather harsh at first, it touched me that you were willing to edit for me. 

    MayoeruHitori

    Posted

    Apologies for a delayed reply, I forgot that Fuwanovel won't notify you of comments made on blogs. Jun Maeda (and KEY in general) is an interesting example to bring up because on the one hand his VNs continually seem to sell very well, on the other hand I think he's exhausted his inspiration. Personally I think it was somewhere around Little Busters! where inspiration was lost (and Solidbatman's review of it basically confirmed my opinion). Using Little Busters! as an example, it isn't so much that it's bad, so much as it feels mediocre coming off of it's older sisters like Clannad, Planatarian, Air, Kanon, etc. Or maybe after reading 3+ KEY VNs you begin to tire of their formula, at least I did. Yet Regardless, KEY looks like the only major VN company that is still profitable, and able to release big budget VNs with a crowd of fans waiting in anticipation. An enviable situation to be in, although on the other hand they have built their own prison in the sense that many of KEY's fans expect the KEY formula, which imo has stagnated them creatively. Most other companies however, are pretty much forced to follow trends and/or release Ero-centric VNs to stay above water. 

    For me what really baffles me, is why have VNs declined in popularity? There is so much power to the medium, being able to tell stories and have visuals and audio season the writing. It's a medium that magically touched me years ago, and I anticipated that as the medium got more well known, more people would fall in love with that magic. Indeed VNs are more known about than they were 10 years ago when I first got into them, yet they are still pretty niche. I thought that the popularity of DDLC and social games like FGO might draw more people into the broader VN circle, but they didn't get as many people into the medium as I hoped.  

    Regarding everything else you said, I think we see eye to eye and I'm in agreement with your views. And thanks, this exchange has been a pleasure on my part as well.  

    MayoeruHitori

    Posted

    I appreciate the lengthy post, as well the the other one you linked to. They were interesting reads, and more than anything it's always nice to see people that take an active interest in the future of visual novels. That said, I don't see social games as offering any kind of salvation to the limbo VNs have found themselves in. And it has little to do with the people making them, but rather what they are at their essence. They exist for only one reason, to suck away as much money from players as possible and to get you addicted. It's very much money first, art second. And while this is the general rule for all artistic mediums, the individual works of art that stand out as great, often are lead by those insane people who are motivated by the opposite, art first and money second.  

    Now this is where my point of view radically deviates from most, so I don't expect many to agree with me. What interests me about VNs, is the artistic medium itself. What can be done with it, and how it can express themes, stories, and philosophies uniquely from other mediums. In that sense, even if VNs became massively popular. If the only things we are getting are commercial titles that appeal to the lowest common denominator (like typical Hollywood movies), I really don't care for the medium to succeed. Often when an industry is relatively new and going through it's boom period, people are more willing to fund experimental works; which is where the creative and imo interesting stuff comes from. And perhaps it's my own biases of what I've seen social games as up to this point, but I have a really hard time picturing anything deep and interesting coming out of a genre that is just glorified gambling.

    One of your key arguments is that these upcoming social games will have massive scripts. That's great for people who are addicted, but that is no guarantee of quality for people with critical eyes. "Bigger is not always better", and "quality over quantity" exist as phrases for a reason. 

    Regardless, this is just my two cents. And I'm what is known as a bit of a curmudgeon. And despite my cynicism, I really meant what I said in the beginning. Above all else, it's nice to see that there are people who still care about the future of VNs. So long as there are people who still care, the medium still has life in it.   

    Clephas

    Posted

    Good to see you posting again! I completely understand being burned out and uninterested in most current releases. I feel much the same not just about VNs but anime as well. Most things feel so uninspired these days. The diversity of stories explored in anime (and VNs as well) from 2000 - 2010 were great, and a fair amount of them were pretty good. The past 5 years in particular seem to be quite stagnant for otaku-media. Generally speaking that is (I'm aware there are some exceptions).

    Clephas

    Posted

    Interesting to see Reinhardt from LOGH on the list. What I liked about LOGH is that it followed both sides, the Free Planets Alliance and the Galactic Empire pretty neutrally. Leaving it mostly to viewer to decided which side they preferred. As somebody who prefers the Galactic Empire, I always saw Reinhardt as a flawed good guy. A sort of Alexander the Great or Napoleon, who some would decry as a villain, and others a hero. 

    If you ever watched or read Naoki Urasawa's Monster, I'm curious to know how you regard Johan as a villain.     

    alpacaman

    Posted

    On 10/23/2020 at 9:07 PM, alpacaman said:

    I don't know if I would go as far as the anon in my praise of Umineko. I agree with the general sentiment that Umineko has a narrative complex enough to hold up even when compared to some of the best pieces of literature though. I heavily disagree with his point about using the original sprites though.

    Lol, yeah I disagree about the bit about the original sprites too. Although they are great for memes

    alpacaman

    Posted

    Unironically this is why I've often described Suba Hibi and after reading Umineko, Umineko as well as the VN equivalent of literary works like Infinite Jest and Ulysses. Not because the themes or writing styles have anything in common with those books, but because all of them are works that are long and demand you think about them after you finish reading them. They play around with your expectations, but reward you for patience (as well as severely test your patience). I saw it said best on a thread on 4chan a while back, and I'll attach my screenshot of what that Anon said:

    Spoiler

    vDcVAuz.png

     

    Plk_Lesiak

    Posted

    Yours was the most comprehensive and well cataloged EVN blog. You did really good work. And regardless of whether you just take a much needed and well deserved break, or end up retiring from this kind of thing. You have a strong library of reviews as a legacy!  

    Slightly disappointed I didn't manage to release my VN in time to request a review from you. I hope I can at least convince you to read it once your burn out cools down. I'm not presumptuous enough to say you'll like it, but I can confidently assure you it's quite different from most VNs you've read.  

    Jardic47

    Posted

    As others have said, if you start a thread asking for recommendations I'm sure you'll be recommended VNs that you never heard of and might end up loving. It will also be helpful if you are specific about VNs you have played and enjoyed and which you didn't enjoy. Regardless, if you are looking for some great but sadly underrated translated VNs, I would recommend checking out Swan Song, Yume Miru Kusuri, and I'll also have to agree with @Mr Poltroon and recommend Symphonic Rain.  

    Clephas

    Posted

    At best I could only describe myself as a casual gamer, but I do enjoy jrpgs on occasion. Your criticism of Octopath Traveler mirrors my own in a lot of ways. I think the aesthetic of the game is nice, and I quite like the gameplay, but the story and characters were disappointing. Nier Automata I enjoyed a lot, and its probably the most memorable game I played in the past 2 years. I am curious what your thoughts on the original Nier are, particularly the one with papa Nier (who I find conceptually more interesting than his bishounen predecessor). I never got a chance to play it, and it seems like we are never going to get a port of Nier with papa Nier as the main character. But if you have played it, where does it stand in your list of Jrpgs that have come out in the past ~10 years? 

    alpacaman

    Posted

    Glad to see that the Umineko discussion thread inspired relooking at the VN. @Mr Poltroon's post in the thread was great to read through, and likewise its interesting to relook at the opening scene. Personally when I first read the opening scene, I remember wondering why it started this way. Looking back at it in retrospect it makes more sense though. Especially once you have a greater understanding and context of who Kinzo really is, and his role in the rest of the story.

    I'm interested in the observation in whether alcohol holds any consistent motif or not. Off the top of my head I know that Bernkastel is quite fond of good alcohol and so is Beatrice. In fact there are some pretty great scenes of Beatrice getting drunk. But I don't know if that's relevant to your curiosity around the use of alcohol. 

     

    Plk_Lesiak

    Posted

    Synergia is a title I've been anticipating since its project announcement on Fuwa way back when. I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I think it's main selling point is the art and unique Cyberpunk aesthetic. I couldn't point out the specific details, but the art somewhat reminds me of Doomfest's art. In the sense that both Doomfest and Radi have a quality to their art that is definitely very anime in influence, but it also has aspects that are distinctly western in feel. I love this combination. Personally when VNs deviate too far from the anime aesthetic I find them off putting, but I do like to see variation. And the typical anime style seen in most JVNs nowadays bores me. Both Doomfest and Radi hit the in between sweet spot perfectly for me.  

    Zalor

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

    It's a nice one for sure. I Kind see it in the same light as other early, notable kinetic EVN –Juniper's Knot, That Cheap and Sacred Thing, some freeware Ebi-Hime projects... Cool short stories that utilize the medium well and tell something meaningful despite their minimalism. It might honestly be my favourite formula, as the large, meandering VNs always lose me a bit over time, even if they are high quality.

    Speaking of ebi-hime VNs, I'm really curious what your impression of Lucky me, Lucky You would be. 

    Juniper's Knot really takes me back lol. Doomfest and Dischan was a great combination. I agree a lot that there is something nice and kind of poetic about shorter VNs. They tend to me more to the point and avoid overstaying their welcome. 'Meandering' is the perfect word to describe the bloat that tends to often find itself in longer visual novels (JVNs tend to be the worst perpetrator of this offense too).

    As for Lucky me, Lucky You it looks pretty interesting and falls under that nice short length we were just talking about. I'll check it out within this or next week.

    Zalor

    Posted

    9 hours ago, Darbury said:

    Nice blog post! And for what it's worth, I've grown somewhat more tolerant of ellipses over the years. Have they worn me down? ...Maybe.

    I suppose the key is using them with intentionality, and not as a typographical shrug that takes the place of finishing a thought or properly punctuating a sentence. To your point, it's hard for an ellipsis to do the important work of demarcating time when those same three dots are also being employed in a dozen other pointless odd-jobs throughout the text.

    Thank you! I'm glad to hear that you've softened up on them a bit. And I am in huge agreement that they should be used purposefully, and not just lazily thrown in. Which unfortunately you do see a lot of the latter in many VNs. 

    Ultimately I see them as a kind of spice. If used sparingly, but effectively they can have a nice effect on the meal. But if poured excessively partly to cover up how unflavorful the dish is, well it doesn't really improve anything lol

    Zalor

    Posted

    9 hours ago, Palas said:

    Do you recall this? Darbury once wrote about how much he hated ellipses and I thought at that time, well he might be right. But you provide a solid counterpoint: the fact that the text is not there all at once, but rather is shown through a typewriter effect, is a reason for a lot of the uses in ellipses. That's something to take into account, definitely.

    This was in very belated indirect response to him actually lol. His arguments in that post has been in the back of my head for a while, and recently I ran into it again by accident. Which prompted me to write this. So yeah you're right on the money! 

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