2007-03-09, 16:06 | Link #941 | |
Banned
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Quote:
I can't shake this feeling that people automatically equate anything sad or depressing with deep and meaningful regardless of the context and they fail to notice that isn't always the case. Preprogramming is indeed something I've noticed among certain groups including Kyoto Animation fans, Key fans, Gainax fans and Aya Hirano fans and its something thats beginnning to chaff at me lately, because its not fair that other companies will have to struggle to earn respect and prestige, while certain groups have it far to easy. I'm really huge on fair competition from a political standpoint so that opinion is coming into play as well. It's not that everybody isn't putting in the effort its just clearly some companies would need far less effort to remain profitable and Key is one of them. I'm sure that there are most defininetely deeper aspects to a lot of these things, but the preprogramming will cause these things to be irrelevant in favour of whatever trait the company is most identified with that people liked in the past be it Haruhi for Kyoto, Depressing stuff in a market of happy for Key, Anno and Eva for Gainax and the voicing of Haruhi for Aya. I see it all the time when I'll notice something particularly poignant in a show like Code Geass, which is overlooked in favour of CC's butt or something that reminds them of Gundam Seed. I've only been message boarding for a while and picking the brains of fellow anime fans for a short time so I'm not sure if it's always been like this or if its the internet that's causing it or what, but its really disconcerting that its that easy for companies to work their fans over and over in a similar manner once they've discovered their weak point and it certainly doesn't bode well for the future of a number of genres. |
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2007-03-09, 20:09 | Link #942 | |
Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2004
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Seriously, Clannad without voice just isn't the same. Hope they hire the same caliber of seiyuus as they did for the PS2 version. |
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2007-03-10, 01:48 | Link #944 | |
湯音カワユス~
Scanlator
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Canada
Age: 38
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Quote:
As for the bias thing. I agree that Key (or any other successful company, for that matter) has an advantage over other lesser known companies since Key games are guaranteed to sell and become popular no matter what, whereas it'll take a true masterpiece for a small softhouse's game to become well-known. The truth is, there are a lot of games out there by smaller companies that are just as great as the big shot games. People just don't know about them, that's all. Still, I don't think that makes Key games any less significant: they're still some of the best visual novels I have ever played. Whether there are other great games out there or not doesn't change that. The truth is, fans in this field are not as forgiving as you might think: if their expectations were betrayed, they'll slam the game no matter how popular the company is. So when you see over 1000 reviews of CLANNAD, all indicating something positive, you'll have to admit that there must be something about it that makes people like it. As for Code Geass, unfortunately, the show is shadowed by the fact that I am a big fan of the light novel Owari no Chronicle (The Ending Chronicle), which shares some common elements with Code Geass (such as a "cool guy" male lead), but is simply "awesomer" than Code Geass in every way. I'll keep my OwaKuro avatars until the day an anime adaptation is announced. I agree with CTFFMike. Although some might say that unvoiced + your own imagination beats any voiced game, I cannot imagine playing through CLANNAD without voice, ESPECIALLY for Sunohara and Akio-san (くぅぅ、僕も注入されてぇーーっ! would NOT be the same without Sakaguchi-san's voice ) |
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2007-03-11, 03:07 | Link #946 | |
Europeon
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Yurup
Age: 37
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I've only played 鬼畜王ランス & ゼス崩壊, so can't really help you with 戦国 if that's indeed the one you're talking about. |
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2007-03-11, 04:14 | Link #947 | |
Where are the good animes
Join Date: Dec 2003
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I see why this game is so popular |
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2007-03-11, 21:04 | Link #948 |
湯音カワユス~
Scanlator
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Canada
Age: 38
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Nothing big, but Kanishino's download page has been updated with downloadable character system voices:
http://www.pulltop.com/gp06/06_downl...ml#systemvoice Miyabi's OS boot voice... BEST EVER. |
2007-03-12, 20:41 | Link #949 | |
Senior Member
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Quote:
While Tomino was largely driven by his depression (except for Ideoon, in which he claimed he doesn't know why he made the anime end up that way) after all the politics he have (vs. Nagano because of differring opinions over directions of animes (Nagano wants everything in the post-Zeta animes to be at least FSS-level grand (shown by his concepts), while Tomino wanted something more realistic...especially after binning Nagano's proposal for the ZZ), disliking the merger between Sunrise and Bandai). This is a stark contrast to everything he did after Victory, in which everything was more upbeat (like Turn A and the Zeta movies). Of course, the times changed, and the man himself changed (the Gundam Evolve about the Nu Gundam was directed by him, and he personally wanted to give a happy ending to some of his works). As for Key's case, it's more of the desire to give a plot to the game...otherwise it might end up being typical. In the rather crazy world of visual novels, innovation is something one must do to at least survive...well, if you think Kanon is bad enough, Planetarian is bound to make you cry. Leaf tried the depressing path with Tenshi no Inai Juunigatsu (something I got round to playing recently, but my schedule...), and it worked very well with the direction (albeit a little short), although they are more known for more upbeat fare like ComiPa and ToHeart. It just takes effort to pull something off (and different, and actually worked), and not many companies will dare to step off what they are known for. Heck, even more well-known companies are known to at least suffer (well, some here have said that Really? Really! have not been doing exactly that well as expected, compared to the rest). Heck, as for KyoAni, they are already known for Full Metal Panic! animes, and even their rendition of Air before that, but MoSH is just their big break to be truly well-known. Of course, as the rest have said, it takes something really good to make a break. Look at TYPE-MOON and you know it. Sushi-Y: Good that you don't get into Code Geass, otherwise you will be talking about Pizza Hut here... Last edited by kct; 2007-03-13 at 09:11. |
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2007-03-12, 20:58 | Link #950 |
うるとらぺど
Join Date: Oct 2004
Age: 44
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Innovation is one thing.
There's another thing that's in common with all the big companies that have survive the strings of bankruptcy recently. The merchandise spin off that keeps them sustainable till the next big thing. Let's not talk about good stuffs from Key and TM here. TH2 was mediocre and not very big, but what keeps Leaf going ? The merchandises of figures, books, anime, etc. |
2007-03-12, 21:05 | Link #951 |
Senior Member
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And in some cases, the big break into television.
I don't know about TH2 though (storyline-wise I got the 'overly typical' vibe, maybe I have not got round getting it yet), but the way the first-day launch was reported seems to show how people have waited for it...and it's a PS2 version of the game. |
2007-03-13, 00:48 | Link #952 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Both PS2 (~86k copies, iirc) and PC (~110k) versions of To Heart 2 sold very well - considerably better than Clannad, on the whole.
In terms of reception, the game didn't make a huge splash, but it seems to be generally well received. I think Clannad can be described in a similar fashion (strong initial sales, but much less post-release enthusiasm than with Kanon or Air), although that game is better liked. |
2007-03-14, 10:47 | Link #953 |
Banned
Join Date: Dec 2006
Age: 38
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Juliette's site is closing on March 30th; users were asked to remove external links without further instructions. Could this be one more from the string of softhouse closures, or are they just relocating the site?
EDIT: Looks like will-game.net is shutting down and many sites are affected by this, so I'm guessing it's just a site relocation for now. Last edited by cyth; 2007-03-15 at 08:21. Reason: update |
2007-03-15, 11:57 | Link #954 |
Yozora
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Germany
Age: 37
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Hmm, Haurhi is getting a game, maybe..
http://www.visual-novels.net/vn/inde...jc_allComments I try to imagine that as eroge *-* @ Toua: As far as I get you are right, no closing (thank god..) There are enough companies which went bankrupt.. |
2007-03-15, 20:23 | Link #959 |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
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Well, it's no rumour -- that's just the precident that's been set. They're doing two adaptations for all the major Key properties: one by Toei, and one by Kyoto Animation. It could be argued that this is way of appealing to an even broader audience.
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2007-03-16, 05:03 | Link #960 |
ロリ is life~
Join Date: Dec 2005
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Hurrah~ I found a bit of time to digest one new game lately (ノ´∀`*)
Kissy Kissy ~Watashi no Tamago~ is one of the more lesser known titles released this year. Unpopular as it may be though, it still is an excellent game with a simple, yet heartwarming story of 'creating memories' and 'finding the place where one belongs'. The first words that came out of my mouth when I saw the boxart was, "買う!!" The artwork in Kissy Kissy's is simply beautiful. The stylized sketchiness, watercolor themes is a step away from the general idea of CG art, a welcome change, especially when it is done this well. While there are some notable differences, the general idea of pastelish/watercolor touches are notably taken from the manga style of Honey and Clover. (The asthetic design of the game deserves some praise as well. The minimalistic menu design and text system is simple and very elegant. I really wish more softhouses would follow this trend. The story centers around Junichi, a student and convenience store clerk. Upon his way back from work, his peaceful life takes a sudden stop as he finds an unconscious girl on the beach. Being the nice guy that he is, Junichi rescues her and brings her to his house. After waking up, the girl draws a blank in her memory. Who she is, where she came from, things that we usually take for granted was lost to her. Still, even with all that she has lost, she has one strong desire. That desire was to stay here, with Junichi. The setting has been done many times before. It's not original, but I couldn't help being attracted to what the game really shines in, which is the athmosphere created from the game's unique asthetic style, and the athmosphere created by the characters and their dialogue. The focus of the story is generally fixed on the love triangle between Junichi, Minao, and Yu, so there's very little sidestory or extra characters to throw off the flow of the story. Playing the game, I've long lost count on how many times I wanted to glomp Minao. Her lovable personality and slightly 'どじこ' nature really works wonders in putting a smile on my face. Being voiced by Kimura Ayaka (木村あやか) was BIG points for me, especially since she is one of my favorite seiyuus. Yu is Junichi's childhood friend. Before the events in the story, their relationship was fairly distant. However, after meeting Minao and learning her circumstances she and Junichi slowly begin to return to how they were before. Her character is slightly つん toward Junichi for obvious reasons. -------- Overall, Kissy Kissy brings in several elements that work together to create refreshing and polished game. From the relaxing music to the summer athmosphere, the game overflows with artistic style and personality. The replay value is lesser than most bishoujo games since it has only two main endings, but the scenario length is more than enough to engage the player into the story. Score 85/100 |
Tags |
bishoujo game, ero-game, eroge, visual novel |
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