Clephas asks you

[Clephas]

In another month and a half, we'll hit the one year anniversary of my VN of the Month thread.  tbh, the activities related to that thread take up a ridiculous amount of my time, considering I used to just cherry pick one or two interesting games and shove the rest into my backlog.  I have to make time to play them, consider what I think of them, and then write down what I think of them.  That thread has eaten up well over a thousand hours of my time over the past year, and I'm curious as to whether people want me to continue. 

 

A big downside for me is that I've hit a lot of kusoge over the past year that I normally would have avoided on principle or because of obvious clashes with my pet peeves.  However, when I considered how I could contribute to Fuwa without actually becoming staff, this was pretty much the only way I thought might work.  People who lurk in the irc channel know I bitch and moan a lot about moege in general and the ones I'm playing at a given moment in particular. 

 

On the other hand, giving so many games I normally wouldn't have touched a chance has let me find some hidden gems (though relatively few of those) and get a better perspective on VNs in general.  This has been a huge positive for me, letting me consider the games I'm playing more objectively than I would otherwise have been able to. 

 

I do find myself with less and less patience for certain things that are common to all moege (ichaicha and pointless scenes), and I've frequently found myself on the verge of exploding as a result.  It is really, really hard not to just skip slice of life scenes in a VN I already know is a kusoge out of a sense of duty toward those few people who read my posts.  I also split my assessments of chuuni and moege/charage because I knew I'd never be fully objective on any chuuni game, and I spent a great deal of time worrying about whether I should expand my comments from a mini-review meant to just give you an idea of what to expect and what not to expect to a full review, complete with a number of spoiler boxes you won't be able to resist opening. 

 

All in all, it's been an interesting experiment so far... but I'm honestly unsure if i want to continue it after the one-year mark, simply because I'm not getting much feedback at all, and I'm not nearly enough of a narcissist to believe everyone agrees with me or thinks I'm wonderful. 

 

To be blunt, do you want me to keep on soldiering up the endless mountain, or do you want me to abandon my (probably ultimately futile) efforts to climb toward the pinnacle of VN-fanboyism?

 

I might or might not take any advice given in this thread, and there is a good chance I'll just outright ignore the results of the poll, depending on my mood.  However, at the same time, I'd like to know just what people think of my little thread/column.  When college starts up again in a few weeks, my workload is going to expand greatly, so this is going to go back to being a huge burden on me, time-wise.  So... tell me what you think and vote in my poll.

[Chronopolis]

Play whatever you want, I'll still read your posts. To be honest, I've always been a little perplexed at how you (and some other power-readers on vndb) can trudge through so much banality. I would find it just as or more interesting if you did more in-depth articles about a few VN's you played and liked. The collective reader base will sort through the good and the bad, not nearly as fast as the Clephas Express™, but eventually.

 

Edit. One way I found the beneficial, other than the obvious identification of odd gems, is it gave a different perspective of VN's, slicing mainly from the structural angle. But I think the thread you've built up is pretty much a sufficient survey size to fulfill this purpose. Not really a huge need to continue.
 

[Bolverk]

I read pretty much all of the posts you make in VN of the Month and the random vn's thread. Usually they effect rather heavily on if I am going to read the vn or not. Also your posts are fun to read.

Additionally to that I am glad for the lists you've made and the advice you've given.. Tbh I wouldn't be able to gotten to my jp lvl without knowing what vn's to play.

 

I wonder if you actually reach the pinnacle of VN-fanboyism you saiyan mode your hair turns into kamige's characters and loli's. He he

 

If you'd like to lessen your work on the vn of the month, you could play only the titles that interest you. Saves you the kusoge. You are prbly already aware that if doesn't really become the vn of the month, but more clephas vn pick of the month xD. Never the less! That would still be fun and useful to read about.

 

Also I agree with Chrono.

[Yukiru]

I use your entries to get me fired up and learn more Japanese, but when it comes to actual reading, it doesn't work that way. And to be honest I haven't read most of it.

 

Granted, I'm really fired up about a few untranslated titles thanks to you. And the genres we're into are pretty similar. 

[Clephas]

Mmm... a lot of it is that reading in general is second-nature to me.  I go a little crazy if I'm not reading something at least two hours a day...  it is why I made such an easy transition to VNs from anime.  However, for the moege... I'll agree, way too much of it is banal.  I'm not really enjoying the one I'm playing right now, even though I can see that it is technically a relatively high-quality VN, for a game that is basically seishun-romance.  The problem is that the developments are way too obvious (I knew how one heroine's path was going to go before the common route was over, and so far it hasn't betrayed my expectations, unfortunately), and thus things are getting a bit too... well boring for my taste.

[Chronopolis]

Do you read LN's? Another medium (Sturgeon's law still applies) to explore.

[Down]

If playing too much introduces bias in your opinion and lessen your game experience, it's a problem in itself I suppose.

 

Personally I don't read all your posts since I don't read untranslated VNs yet, but I have in mind that this precious resource exists.

But I'll keep reading your reviews with interest even if you're not exhaustive, that's for sure. And actually if you concentrate on a few VNs and make longer reviews I'll read them all the more avidly.

 

 

The problem is that the developments are way too obvious (I knew how one heroine's path was going to go before the common route was over, and so far it hasn't betrayed my expectations, unfortunately), and thus things are getting a bit too... well boring for my taste.

Sadly this usually happens no matter what the medium is when you get to read/watch a lot of stuff.

[Clephas]

Mmm... I've read a few.  Problem is, when it comes to novels... I want to read real novels.  When I started to read Japanese literature, I ended up reading classic works of the last century, rather than otaku-related stuff... I'm a bibliophile (with a preference for hard sci-fi and high fantasy, but who can and will read anything that is even remotely interesting given the opportunity), so I have a habit of finding the thickest book in the store and just picking it off the shelves... 

 

Edit:  My evasion of LNs comes from my bad experience with the Crest of the Stars series books... the translations were so bad that I literally pulled my hair out halfway through.  Turning a hard sci-fi series into what reads like a five-year old's attempt to imitate his inner city cousin's way of talking must have actually taken creative effort...  I later read the Japanese version (which was a dozen times better), but the trauma still remains.

[Nerathim]

I find your other thread very useful when it comes to untranslated works because I have a friend which started to learn japanese and is interested in visual novel so I intend to suggest him some VN, and your advices helps a lot. Nothing to add except your thought on the reading difficulty of each of them in your mini-reviews.

[havoc]

being relavtivly new here i have not yet read any of your post but this seems interesting so i will keep my eye on it.

As for what to read, read what pikes your interest.

 

You could also switch things up once in a while by reading a LN or manga and doing a review of that it if you dont feel like reading a vn.

Most people who read reviews want to know if it is worth thier time or what someone else thinsk about the story.

And they dont really care that much about the medium.

[DawnWolf]

Didn't know you were still going to college, wow.

 

Anyways I'll be real with you; having to play VNs because you feel obligated to as opposed to because you're compelled to is asinine at best. Play and review what you want to play. Theres no need to force yourself. Small anecdote: I HATED Chaos;Head with a passion the first time I read it. When I actually replayed it months later (to get B ending) at a slower pace, only reading so much per week, my opinion of the work went up (not saying much as I still dislike it, just not as much). Had I not forced myself to read the work within x amount of time (to get through my huge backlog) I would have had a much more enjoyable time.

 

As far as the thread I've checked it out a few times, but certainly not monthly. It's not too big on my watch list since my Japanese is no where near where it needs to be to derive fun from a VN, as I imagine is the case with much of Fuwa

 

EDIT: To be fair, I should mention that some of the VNs you've mentioned are on my list to read, most of which I wouldn't have heard of otherwise (Soukoku no Arterial comes to mind). That doesn't really have much of anything to do with you're monthly thread, but it's worth mentioning I suppose.

[havoc]

Didn't know you were still going to college, wow.

 

Anyways I'll be real with you; having to play VNs because you feel obligated to as opposed to because you're compelled to is asinine at best. Play and review what you want to play. Theres no need to force yourself. Small anecdote: I HATED Chaos;Head with a passion the first time I read it. When I actually replayed it months later (to get ending B) at a slower pace, only reading so much per week, my opinion of the work went up (not saying much as I still dislike it, just not as much). Had I not forced myself to read the work within x amount of time (to get through my huge backlog) I would have had a much more enjoyable time.

 

As far as the thread I've checked it out a few times, but certainly not monthly. It's not too big on my watch list since my Japanese is no where near where it needs to be to derive fun from a VN, as I imagine is the case with much of Fuwa

 

EDIT: To be fair, I should mention that some of the VNs you've mentioned are on my list to read, most of which I wouldn't have heard of otherwise (Soukoku no Arterial comes to mind). That doesn't really have much of anything to do with you're monthly thread, but it's worth mentioning I suppose.

I gree completly with you,

had as similair expirience with shakugan no shana today .... maratoning all three series was a bad idea

[Mephisto]

Depends on your time and willingness to deal with annoying pointless conversations that aren't even remotely amusing.

To be honest, I tend to shy away from reviews of games until I've had a chance to form my own opinion of the game, so I haven't fully read a lot of your reviews yet. I definitely enjoy our conversations on IRC and stuff though.

[Clephas]

tbh... I'm pretty much at my limit for Hoshi Ori right now... I can see that it is a fairly high quality seishun-romance, but it is '王道すぎる'.  When you can predict the entire game down to the details before you actually enter the heroine routes, and then you find that things go exactly as you thought they would... it gets a bit depressing.  It's been a while since I hit a VN that put me to sleep this fast, while not being a technical disaster.

[dreamweaver]

tbh... I'm pretty much at my limit for Hoshi Ori right now... I can see that it is a fairly high quality seishun-romance, but it is '王道すぎる'.  When you can predict the entire game down to the details before you actually enter the heroine routes, and then you find that things go exactly as you thought they would... it gets a bit depressing.  It's been a while since I hit a VN that put me to sleep this fast, while not being a technical disaster.

Well you don't have to complete the game if you get bored with it xD

I always read your reviews but don't feel like you are forced to write them for us =]

Just play what you interests you.

[fun2novel]

Clephas, I LOVE these threads and all the work that you do. But I understand you completely, I mean playing so many kusoges will take a lot out of you not to mention they take a lot of your time.

 

The best advice I can give is select few VNs that are interesting based on your specific criteria, if during playtime you find them not interesting move on to the next one. Some VNs are very very good but also demand a big time investment and would appear like simple Nukige or Charage otherwise, but  because if your experience you will probably have this gut feeling if there is something more to the story and if it's worth to continue reading or if you should move on to the next VN.

 

I always appreciated all this work that you do but I also don't want you to get burned out, in this state you can easily miss on some good VNs and not tell us about it, lol.

[sanahtlig]

You should just play the games you want to play, and review the ones you want to review.  You've said that you used to write reviews you never even showed anyone.  If that's the case, you don't need a sense of obligation to keep the reviews coming.

[overkill373]

follow your heart

 

I have to say you have helped me make my mind about wether to play certain VNs or not

 

many of them seem to be normal charages or moeges of low to mid quality but then turn out to be hiding something much more