Darklord Rooke

They really like to spring these things on the community, don't they 0.0 I have every confidence they've fixed those issues also. They spent a lot of time, and got some good help on it. It's one of the few VNs I'm going to read :3

I'd take your poll, alas your omission of Aksys means I can't answer the questions. C'est la vie.

That was brilliant from MG. So many games to look forward to :3

Enjoy your birthday, Nayleen. Drink lots and be merry

Not too much of interest was revealed IMO, and sometimes that was the fault of the questions and sometimes the answers were vague and didn't actually reveal anything. I do note /VNTS/ was going berserk with anti-Sekai and anti-Herkz cheering. Watching the reactions was almost of more interest than reading the actual answers supplied.

Your enthusiasm has netted a result - Kenka Bancho Otome is now ahead by 2%. You must be ecstatic

The logical extension of that argument is that unless the author has a formal education on the matter, then he isn’t qualified to defend the show against any criticisms concerning plot holes and science matters. I don’t think you want to wander down that path. I should point out that plenty of people criticise Doctor Who for its plot holes and weird science, but hardly anybody cares.

Why are people expecting good quality 'hard science fiction' from their VNs? 'Hard' sci fi is the domain of those who have science degrees, professors of science, and those who work in fields of science. Alastair Reynolds worked at the European Space Agency for over a decade, Isaac Asimov studied biochemistry, and Stephen Baxter mathematics and engineering. It is a very intimidating field to enter. With sci-fi animes or VNs, if you're to enjoy the story just accept that there'll be plot holes or problems with the science and be done with it.

Sequel is on Steam Greenlight http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=730497123

Oh hey, look, WOW they're tied :3

Desperately trying to switch my vote to 'Kenka Banchou', because I want to see WinterfuryZX's reaction if '428' loses.

He over-reached there in my opinion, but it’s a single line in an otherwise solid review. He's right when he talks about the overstated sexuality of the thing, and that's always an aspect that will annoy some, then he over-reached with the transphobia line. I notice people on /vn/ are trying to use it to invalidate the whole article, which makes me chuckle. That’s the sort of thing you expect from /vn/. The dude on Reddit who’s talking about how you can’t review the game without taking into consideration 'Alternative' is also in error, but that’s the sort of thing you expect from Reddit. Generally there's a lot of angst about the review, but remember -> Extra is widely considered to be a very average story and Unlimited is not much better.

Hmmm, you're actually missing the point. The reviewer is implying he was not willing to suspend his disbelief, which has little to do with having unrealistic stuff in a story. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-suspension-of-disbelief.htm It's different for every person, so just because the reviewer was unable to suspend his disbelief that doesn't mean you or your friend or your family won't. It's still a valid criticism though, and it's one of the many reasons why review scores should vary significantly from person to person.

Seems like a pretty valid review to me. People may not like the review, but it doesn't judge the game unfairly (like bemoaning its lack of gameplay.)

That's not to say there isn't a problem with the 1st line direct quoting the way it did, but I don't have the energy to get into that xD. It's more subtle. It's not really done in English the way the Japanese do, but whether you keep it in translations ... that discussion could be a draining one. Fred can talk about it if he wants.

Fred exaggerated the issues with some of these, but there are issues there. Most of my problem with the first line comes from "read the mood", which made my nose scrunch up. Even though it's an acceptable phrase grammatically it doesn't mean it's an appropriate phrase in that situation. It actually sounds foreign because it's very unlikely to be said by a girl like Shino in that situation. Or even her Dad. In fact, google "read the mood" and you have business applications, political applications, notice no teenagers on facebook saying the damn phrase. Each section of society has their own little lexicons. The result is it sounds completely unnatural. Very foreign. It's the worst line there, TBH. Definitely not "perfectly fine". It's "perfectly fine" in a grammatical sense, but writing isn't about grammar. "Move your body" is similar but not as bad. Look it up on google and try and find a place where it's used in a colloquial fashion by someone the age of Kumiko. I'm perfectly fine with it, but I'm quite old and I've been exposed to fitness videos with people shouting "Move your body! Come on! Move it!" I never heard my friends tell me that when I was young, though. And if they did I would have laughed at them. It's about tone. Do you want her to sound like a cheesy, fake fitness instructor on TV? 4th line, old guy munching on squid, is about the image conveyed to the audience. What's the problem with that line? In the Western world there's no difference between "old guy munching on squid" and "old guy munching on donuts." Or "old guy munching on fish". Or "old guy munching on a sandwich". I assume the "dried squid" part was deliberately inserted to fashion a specific image, but because this image relates to culture, one we're not familiar with, the whole image gets lost on a Western audience. Writing is never about plunking down grammatically correct sentences, and neither is translation.

True, I suppose. The market was saturated before they entered.

You should find a passion and devote your energies into it. Typically people who get angry about the internet have the luxury of getting angry about the internet – it’s a silly and angry place (it didn’t used to be, back in the 90s, when the hassle of getting on the internet weeded out most undesirables … heh) but that doesn’t mean it has to poison your attitude and outlook. It’s why I used to take a long break from the online world every 6 months or so – the internet tends to negatively affect your personality if you’re not careful. You waste too much energy getting angry at stupid stuff. You’re a smart man, you know it’s not worth it. Good luck with your Geology degree. That’s actually a fascinating field so you have an exciting future ahead of you Oh, and be sure to give Angel Beats a 1 or something. Screw the Key fans, this is hipsternovel.net after all, and Key is just not hip.

What's interesting though is that his company is slowly shifting to other things - doujin games and even manga. If this shift proves to be profitable, it's not unfeasible that they'll slowly drift away from the VN landscape.

Your post reminds me of the book ‘Maestro’ where a brilliant pianist named Keller kept criticising his student’s work xD It’s much more pronounced with translations, because it involves 2 different languages whereas reproducing music involves only 1 language. So with a translation when someone accurately replicates language techniques in a literal way, thinking the effect will be the same, the loss can be much more pronounced. It’s part of what makes reading translations so interesting, though. Reading the different interpretations

The bits of Gahkthun I've read I enjoyed also (I am about 3 years behind on my VN reading. I have, like, ZERO time ) Reviews are just opinions, so despite what some people say we'll never get a situation where we receive 'objective reviews'. But I found what he said to be interesting. Even the bit you think is stupid xD That bit where he said 'the writing is the story,' I believe he's applying literature standards to the game. When talking about literature, it's hard to separate the writing from the story, it's an important part of the experience. But with genre fiction the advise is to make the writing invisible, and making the writing 'stand out' is ... not so encouraged. That's not to say that bad writing is tolerated, but it's clear that if the writing is invisible it's not as integral to the experience. Just my interpretation.

I should point out that “cold openings” are a matter of opinion, and I don’t agree with his statement. All openings are ‘risky’ and I don’t think a ‘cold open’ is any riskier than many of the others. In fact, prologues themselves are discouraged these days, and there’s advice going around that if you want to write a prologue make it a cold open rather than an info dump. I think we all remember when the info-dump prologue was a ‘thing’ in fantasy, and everybody would just skip the damn thing. But 4 cold openings might be taking things too far. I can understand his pique, when I read the demo I thought the beginning dragged a little.

I enjoy listening people who know what they're talking about. Unfortunately VN reviewers who are insightful are few and far between. I don't mean that as a criticism, it's just that to criticise a story effectively you really need a solid understanding of writing techniques and not many people in the VN community do. Except I just found one. He reviewed Gahkthun and shit he's good. And oh look, he's a writer as well. Totally not surprised. Koestl posted a remark on twitter about the review page, I should point out the remark he was referring to was in the comment section and not in the review itself. What did the review say? It was harsh. Harsh but fair, IMO. Now, yes it's harsh but it's also interesting. I think (and I'm ignorant here on Japanese writing, but I do know a thing or two about its English counterpart) that the differences between what is considered good in Japan and good in English is one of the most interesting things about translated works. And this article seems to show the extent of those differences. It also reveals one of the reasons why most translated works are looked down upon. Japanese is incredibly different to English, incredibly so, and a lot of translators wander into the field of fiction translation without fully understanding (or even partially understanding) what makes 'good writing' in English. And no, it's not all about 'grammar'. And if a translator doesn't understand, then they may very well be caught by surprise at claims of substandard prose. And yes, I have heard the statements saying "Gahkthun's a poem" and "the repetition is intentional", but that does nothing to invalidate the points made. It's really a very insightful article. Insightful article's make me giddy with motivation, and I must confess I'm kinda bouncing up and down in my seat right now. Very inspirational article http://wrongeverytime.com/2016/08/01/gahkthun-of-the-golden-lightning/

Koihime Musou -> voices ... whoops, unrelated to the discussion. Ah well Does being forced to support Beats Blade on the off chance we'll get Rance in the future count? No? Oh okay

It's probably due to you misreading something. GOG was established by CD Projekt, not bought, as an expansion of its localisation/distribution service it started back in the early 90s. No, they're considered "The Standard" by which RPG developers are judged by due to their successful merging of an open-world game with a compelling story. CD Projekt's been in business for a long time, and they're philosophies haven't changed. If it were due to their marketing philosophies they would have been considered "the standard" a long time ago, but they weren't. Because a small group of hardcore supporters don't determine how a group of developers is viewed by the masses. The Witcher 2 DLC was also free. Were they considered "The standard" back in 2011? Pfffft as if!