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Mr Poltroon

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Posts posted by Mr Poltroon

  1. Saw a twitter post about expressing one's main flaw, so I went ahead and did it. Here is it as well for the forum.

    Confession:
    I would say that I'm quite selfish, and not even ashamed of it. It means I do not suffer inner conflicts of any kind for prioritising myself and disregarding all others. So, slight apologies for me being an arsehole.
    This, of course, does not mean I do not suffer from anxiety for other reasons, such as failure to "do what I should do", whatever that means, or complying with "the rules", whatever those may be.

  2. 5 hours ago, Silvz said:

    "The main reason for this post is actually related to IxShe Tell (are there any of you who haven’t figured out the play on words with the title yet?)"

    I don't get it

    All will be revealed:

    Spoiler

    The 'x's aren't usually pronounced in these titles. This leaves you with Ishetell. In Engrish, Isheteru. Which is pronounced 'Aisheteru'; a Japanese word for love and loving.

  3. 20 minutes ago, Seraphim88 said:

    I'm not expecting too much plotwise, but I can say that I like that all the heroines seem to be somewhat assertive. That in itself makes it pretty interesting, as long as they aren't too hyper.

    Ah, you've found what the point of interest that was calling to me is. I wasn't able to find out what was it that was attracting me to this in particular.

  4. Just now, Zalor said:

    From my observation, Gatcha games are nothing but a thinly veiled form of gambling. In that sense, they are exploitative by nature. Particularly of people who are prone to gambling addiction. But for me the real crime is that the content that comes from Gatcha games tends to be pretty low. 

    I understand.

    As someone who does not engage with such games, but knows a number of individuals who happily play them, I didn't see much of a negative to Higurashi creating a gatcha for those who want it.

  5. 2 minutes ago, Islacchi said:

    Making Lovers is something I am interested in, however I have heard it is something slightly different from your regular VN? Like it involves more of planning your dates rather than reading through the story and making straight up choices.

    Not to worry. It's more of a gimmick than anything else. It doesn't affect anything other than the dialogue you get, mostly. It's like making choices.

    What might be a bit stranger is the fact that the common route is very short, and you enter heroine routes very quickly.

     

    For Tsujidou-san and Tone Work's games, you would need to purchase the Japanese games and apply translation patches, so that might be a bit complicated.

     

    For Rewrite, I would actually recommend waiting for the official release of Rewrite+, which is a better version of Rewrite that comes with the fandisc.

  6. I imagine you aren't interested in Otome like Steam Prison, Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome, or The Second Reproduction?

    Some of your VNs like Princess Evangile have fandiscs, if you haven't looked into it.

    I'm not seeing Tsujidou-san no Jun'ai Road on your list, so that might be good. Same for Majikoi, but Jast is going to release that officially eventually.

    Muv-Luv Extra seems like it'd fit, but a lot of people (not me) don't seem to like it.

    I'd recommend Shining Song Starnova, if you can survive the weeb text (you get used to it).

    Chrono Clock is also good. The Da Capo series if it seems interesting to you.

    Making Lovers isn't on your list for some reason?

    Rewrite whilst fitting the structure might not be exactly what you're looking for. Little Busters! would be a much better fit.

    I'm not seeing on your list anything by Tone Work's on your list, but their older games are translated.

  7. Why Tearmoon Empire is marvellous, all other details aside.

    The narrator narrates like this: "...Those of you who happened to bring a knife may proceed with the cutting, because the irony is so thick that you can all have a piece for yourselves."

    I can't remember the last time I read something that narrated stuff like this. I love it!

  8. 9 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

    PS. @Mr Poltroon, I haven't started Crest of the Stars yet, but I didn't forget about your recommendation. Just wasn't in the mood for sci-fi for now. I'll post about my reactions when I'll get to it.

    Despite my recommendation I'm in the exact same situation. I've never actually read the books, only (repeatedly) watched the anime. Now I'm waiting for the right mood to read them.

  9. I've read a volume of Tearmoon Empire. It is absolutely phenomenal, for various reasons.

    Spoiler

     

    1) The Narrator

    In this novel, the narrator is an omniscient entity in and of itself and they share their opinion, frequently. Said opinion almost always consists of disparaging everything and everyone, especially when it concerns the main character. This, of course, is hilarious.

    The narrator's job here is devaluing everything the protagonist does, and always reinforce that her motives are selfish, regardless of whether the things she is doing are good or bad. Protagonist learns from her past mistakes? "Boohoo, big deal." Protagonist is trying to be friendly? "Only because she's a coward." Protagonist is trying to learn? "She's dumb, so of course it amounted for nothing." Somebody appreciates that the protagonist has an open mind? "They're super deluded. She's only being nice because she's afraid of not being nice!".

    The final thing the narrator does that's very funny is that, despite the use of generally formal language, occasionally when describing things they end with "In other words, *something casual and even crude*". The contrast and use of modern expressions ends up being way funnier in context as a result.

     

    2) Mia, the protagonist

    Mia lived through her life selfishly as a royal brat, princess of the country, the country revolted, and she ended up dead. For some reason, she returned back to when she was twelve at that moment, and this changes things. For one, due to her standards of living as a prisoner for tree years before her execution, she has a new-found appreciation for what she has as a princess (still enjoying all of it, of course). Secondly, material value is worth way less now that she knows she might lose everything. Thirdly, she's deathly afraid of upsetting those who hurt her in the past, leading to a cowardly and petty contempt but nevertheless attempts to maintain amicable relationships. Fourthly, her previously dire circumstances allowed her to see who remained loyal to her or the empire despite its collapse, and reward them as she never got the chance to in the past. In the new reality, she rewarded the one maid who stayed with her till the end, asking nothing in return. There is nobody she appreciates more, and having the maid by her side gives her strength in many situations.

    Her previous life had three parts, that shaped her to be who she now is. Her life in a prosperous empire where she could do whatever she wanted, which enabled all her bad behaviour and was ultimately the main cause behind her untimely fate. Her life in a collapsing empire, where Ludwig nevertheless tried his best to avert the crisis and teach Mia what should be done, which is when she started learning about how her behaviour and circumstances are problematic, and she attempted (and failed) to help. The final three years of her life were spent in a dungeon, with only an occasional visit from her two loyal retainers. It was here that she learnt about the worst life has to offer and developed a lot of tolerance for her new life. Also, fear. Also, love for her loyal maid.

     

    3) Misunderstandings

    This may have been something I'd neglect to even mention had I not seen @Dreamysyu talk about it. It is true, when I think about it, that this is a story of misunderstandings. But I don't think they are as prevalent as all that. Mia presents foresight she should not have, due to her memories, which leads to a reputation as a wise sage. Because Mia is not dumb, she tries to use these things to her advantage when she can, so most misunderstandings are on purpose, even if she requires some aid from her maid or reputation to pull them off. Despite the narrator always claiming the characters are wildly misunderstanding, the truth is that though her motivations are generally oriented toward self-preservation, her end goal is the same as what the people misunderstanding think it is.

    She's working for a better Empire, trying to make decisions that are better for everyone, trying not to hurt other people, helping those in need near her, and being nice to those who are nice to her. When people misunderstand her as having these objectives, they're not wrong, and she's actively trying to use her knowledge and reputation to make them think that, whilst working to achieve that, even if the general motivating factor is that things went bad last time because she was a pretty bad person.

    I think all interactions with Abel are some of the best ones because they're some of the few where she's actively acting good because of Abel rather than self-perservation, past their initial interaction. Even if she sometimes gets distracted with other things, she wants things to go well for Abel.

     

     

  10. 14 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:
      Hide contents

    The problem is that threatening Shimei with a sword should be an almost suicidal action, because it looks like an act of desperation and an indirect confession of guilt. Without being backed by an army, it would be Tojo & Saito against the whole shinsengumi corps, which would have been certain death for them a soon as Shimei wouldn't directly be threatened anymore. Only Takeru as the commander of the shinsengumi should have the power to decide this conflict in that situation. But since they knew each other well, that could have been actually the case.

    Still doesn't make sense to me that the Shinsengumi had to pledge to get Shimei free. I think Tojo must have had a higher authority, with Shimei being new and all, otherwise the whole situation wouldn't make sense. I think if the situation would be reversed and Shimei being in Tojo's court, threatening Tojo after being convicted, he would have been killed on the spot or as soon as he'd released Tojo. That said, not even Shimei itself did understand the situation at that point, so it was certainly intended to be quite confusing by the writer. XD

    Though it made sense that Koume couldn't interfere, since she wasn't the official Shogun and almost nobody knew about her status anyway.

     

    Spoiler

    I agree that it looks that way from Shimei's side, but from Tojo's side it looked like a really elaborate frame-up to the point Shimei looked plenty guilty and trying to sweep the incident under the rug quickly by arresting Tojo. Which is actually what was happening, due to the commander's actions.

    The outcomes if the Shisengumi resisted would've have been the death of Shimei and possibly another magistrate. Not positive for anyone involved. It's flat-out better to let the arrest run its course. Shimei telling his people to resist would've probably resulted in the fight you'd expect, but in the moment, everyone was too flabbergasted and worried about Shimei.

    Even after releasing Shimei, it was only done in Tojo's home province, where the troops therein would be loyal of many years, like Saito. Without anybody of authority getting involved, Tojo was literally the only person of authority left. Outside of outright insubordination by all members of Shimei's province, which would lead to armed conflict with Tojo's, there was nothing to be done here after the point Tojo arrests Shimei.

    If the situation were the opposite and Shimei had someone like Okita ambushing Tojo in court, I think it would've turned out just the same way. Tojo would be under arrest and Shimei would have the authority to put him in trial later. That said, Shimei wouldn't do things the way Tojo did, and Tojo has much more experience and connections, so it is hard to even imagine the situation.

    It is true that Tojo's reputation and presence would help crush objections from uninvolved parties much more than Shimei's, though.

     

  11. 45 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:

    Nevertheless, most conclusions and actions felt logical, there was only one thing I simply didn't understand:

      Reveal hidden contents

     

    This is simple and complicated simultaneously.

    Spoiler

    It's simple because in the end it only happened because he pointed a sword at Shimei and threatened his life (that it got to that point was due to the Shisengumi letting Saito in, but whatever. She's an element of chaos with her every action.).

    It's complicated because for all intents and purposes both magistrates had the authority to arrest one another at any time. During court, as one of the suspects, is decidedly one of the times when it looks least legitimate to do so, hence the threat of force. And if you're under arrest, you lose your authority unless your subjects choose to obey you. Which happened in Tojo's case due to, once again, the threat of killing Shimei. Once Shimei is under arrest, then Tojo has legitimacy and does in fact have the authority to retain him, much like he had the authority to arrest him.

    Unlike today, authority was vested by the shogun and you'd only manage to hold onto your authority if people obeyed you. If they don't, it's the same as having none, and what matters is the aftermath and not how you got there. Force is what grants authority. Exact same reason why the commander of the Shisengumi can afford to arrest you. His subordinates obey him and not you so long as there is reasonable cause for doubt, and him arresting you is one of the things he can do if he claims you are conspiring against the Shinsengumi.

    In short: Because these people all have a measure of authority to conduct arrests, in the moment it'll win whoever controls the "army". The aftermath they can just come up with whichever justification they want and it's fine, due to their role and authority.

    As for why the "shogun" did not intervene... Her desire to remain impartial is probably it. There was no saying with absolute certainty that Shimei wasn't a suspect, and especially so if Tojo was innocent. Basically, it's politics and judgements far below her level. Both Tojo and Shimei would be better at investigations and legal matters than her, and both do have authority over the case, so she'd have no business intervening, if she were impartial.

     

  12. 39 minutes ago, Ruvik said:

    Ahh, it's been a while since I've read dangan ronpa 1 but I'm going to say Hinata. While I think they are both very smart, Hinata's usually more suspicious about everyone and unlike Naegi he's not too optimistic. Naegi's too soft nature feels unrealistic and make him seem easy to deceive in my opinion.

    Interesting response, as you recognise what makes Hinata feel more competent. Yes. I'd say people at large tend to find Hinata to be the smarter one because of his nature, that is more adequate for an ambient of suspicion and deception. He's both more suspicious of others, capable of actually being mad and not trusting a person, and more assertive altogether.

    Until I replayed the games in quick succession, I'd probably share the same opinion.

    Now, because the first game's cases are easier and simpler than the second game's cases, there's something that happens in the first that makes Naegi be, in my eyes, smarter. Simply put, Naegi deduces things during investigations and Hinata doesn't. For the first two cases Naegi doesn't piece together much of anything, and is shown everything by Kirigiri and Togami. However, from the third onwards, he reaches certain conclusions during the investigations (He does not necessarily explain them, though. Often it's just a "That means...!"). And then there's the fifth case, where he actively solos it (Hinata never does anything by himself. He either points out wrong things in others' claims, or answers Komaeda or Nanami's questions).
    It's more a quirk of the games, I guess, but I find it interesting that Hinata's monologue during the investigations never has him conclude anything, but Naegi's does.

  13. 1 hour ago, Ruvik said:

    Heyy!  You can call me Ruvik or Ru, I love vns a little too much lol. She/her pronouns. 

    I especially love Dangan Ronpa, Zero Escape and Ace Attorney series! It's not that I care much about gameplay though. I could try any vn if I find the story interesting. I also love Otomes a lot. (Btw I'm super into mbti too if you want to type characters I'm all about it heheh)

    I hope to get along with everyone, nice to meet you all!! 

    Dangan Ronpa you say? Time for the hard questions. Out of the protagonists in DR1 and SDR2, which do you think is smarter and why? Hinata or Naegi?

  14. This is about version 0.1513.1;

    I started a further write-up from back then that I felt I hadn't finished. However, inspiration never came and it simply stayed here, unfinished. I might as well post it, in that case.

    I'll let you know that this was so good that after reading the girls' paths (I never ventured into the other possibilities) I had to go searching for other stories to fill the void.

    Spoiler

    I believe a factor that heavily influences the experience is whether or not you stumble upon Sayori's alter route before you do almost any other or not. This is solely because the information about the penlight suppressing the hidden observer is never revealed in the path, meaning its final choice has a different context depending on whether or not you've read other routes. The argument that this is something the subconscious in Sayori wants can only survive scrutiny if nothing seems afoot.
    Outside of that, the scene when the protagonist brings himself to confess his negligence is brilliant. The way the alter shows she very much retains Sayori's sharpness and deductive abilities despite the differences in personality is excellent, and her subsequent arguments to not 'kill' her? Wow. As I had never seen anything suggesting the hypnosis was forced, the entire situation did a complete turnabout. It went from "This is the unquestionable moral right." to "This is the unquestionable(??) moral right."

     

    Perhaps the most striking thing in Hiroko's route is how less knowledgeable she is about the subject, and how that affects her reactions going forward. For both Nozomi and Sayori especially, they find the protagonist's actions deeply irresponsible and troubling. Hiroko less so. Whereas they understand the implications of hypnotism and his implicit desire to get a girlfriend through it, for Hiroko that seems to be a less clear image.
    The scene that brings this to mind is the one where the protagonist ends up kissing Hiroko and its consequences. Whereas the other two would immediately associate the event with the end goal of hypnotism being a girlfriend, all Hiroko wanted was the things removed. That she chose this moment to state her unexpectedly not terrible opinion of him, likely due to witnessing his regret at the event, also shows that she believes him. The other two are clearly much more judgemental when his pursuit of hypnotism appears to push him closer to a potential girlfriend.

     

  15. 12 hours ago, Zalor said:

    What bothers me is when people dismiss VNs because of H-scenes, but then they will turn around and talk about how Game of Thrones and many other TV shows which frequently show sex scenes are their favorite shows. Especially when it comes to 18+ ploge, the amount of sex scenes they typically have is fairly comparable to the amount of sex scenes in many western dramas. So not that much. Therefore I see it as no reason to dismiss them for that alone.

    Whilst I'm not contradicting any of what you say, because I do not disagree, I am fairly convinced that H-Scenes as we regularly see them in VNs and sex scenes as present in Western games or shows are simply not on the same level in terms of imagery.

    VNs frequently use extreme angles, exaggerated proportions, and direct shots into (often pixelised) genitals that are clearly not comparable to anything in mainstream Western media.
    At least that is my impression. Does anybody have any examples to the contrary in the Western mainstream?

    Whilst I doubt this is the cause for the dismissal (the presence of a few bad eggs and frequent fetishised proportions in most anime art are more likely culprits), it may still be a factor to have in mind.

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