2012-12-11, 23:20 | Link #3801 | |
Assistant Professor
Join Date: Jul 2011
Age: 48
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One workaround, impressions from other people, has been the one I've used consistently, though it's not without its own weaknesses. But I find it being the more useful, especially if the other knows your preferences intimately. In the case of the Alcot collection I'd bought, a friend of mine had recommended the game Onigokko and I'd taken a gander at the brand name, making me realize there'd been a lot of games from the company I'd neglected to read since Rhapsody (which was so below average I'd ceased to trust the company) and so I made a gamble.
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2012-12-11, 23:28 | Link #3802 | |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
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In the end, though, I find it isn't too easy to find good, reliable impressions in this medium, because most of the people writing reviews don't really take the time to go in-depth into the material. Sometimes I question how well they even understood the story, or how much they paid attention when reading. Then again, I suppose I shouldn't complain, as I haven't taken the time to write these sorts of reviews myself either most of the time. It's a lot of work, and I tend to rather play a different game instead of writing about the last one...
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2012-12-12, 02:37 | Link #3803 |
ダメ人 - 人間失格
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Germany
Age: 37
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Going by impression can also be risky because of different tastes among the (sub)genres, story or humour. Take someone like me who can simply be happy as long as the characters are enjoyable (the "hnnghhh"-factor), the couple moments are there in a sufficent amount (i. e. more than just showing it in h-scenes) and the drama (if there has to be any) happens in a non-forced way without being dragged out for too long. Should I find a review I'll read it, but won't rely on it 100 %.
@brands: I have one brand where I have mostly "positive" experiences with, but other wise my decision making goes simply by CG/character looks nice, synopsis seems okay -> let's try it" for newly released ones. For older titles I check the vndb-tags if there are tags which tend to make my alarm bell ring Not the most fail-safe way, but it worked for me most of the time Anyway: I completed Witch Garden and it was well worth it. The spoiler route had a few twists I didn't expect - if only because I'm bad at predicting the maybe obvious - (including the final outcome), but was all in all nicely done IMHO. Imouto lovers will be disappointed.
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2012-12-12, 06:33 | Link #3804 |
reading #hikaributts
Join Date: Feb 2009
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Eventhough my recent eroge purchases are rather limited when it comes to brands , i don't think you should always buy games based on which companies made them. Because having a big name does not warrent a good game (Sphere's Imouto no Katachi or Lump of Sugar's Hanairo no Heptagram were disappointing and even this year's Dracu-Riot made by Yuzusoft didn't live up to all the hype and very high sales that it got. Also Pallete hasn't made any games after Mashiro iro Symphony that i liked). This also applies to regular game companies (like in my case Square Enix) or animation studios (J.C. staff's current Little Busters adaptation comes into my mind) as well.
Smaller and newer companies can sometimes make suprisingly decent games to read, like Ex-one's Manatsu no Yoru no Yuki Monogatari and Futsu no Fantasy. I agree that a trial don't reflect the entire game but it might show if you like the writing or not. I loved the silly settings of NakaHito and Osadai and i ordered those games after playing through the trial. As an Alcot and Alcot Honey Comb games fan i can say that their last few games were weak story wise but for me that was not the charm of those games. Nakahito relied (like Osadai) on the comedy, parodies (quite some tokusatsu and modern anime references) and the heroines rather than on the pretty basic story. So it's pretty understandable why there are people who won't like it, but there are also quite some people who did like it for those reasons like myself 1/2 summer primarily relied on the ichaicha of the heroines. Eventhough the parellel world was the core element of the pretty rushed "true route", it was quite obvious during the common route and the trial that the parallel worlds element was pretty much a gimmick for the ichaicha. I already posted my impressions on Aete Mushisuru Kimi to no Mirai a week ago in this thread, so i don't need to further comment about it here Also 1/2 summer's ost was released on august 31st and i am actually waiting for NakaHito's OST that is going to be released in this winter's comiket. edit: speaking about Alcot Honey comb games, due to the stupid customs i ended up getting my legit copy of Aete Mushisuru Kimi to no Mirai in the mail just now Last edited by hyl; 2012-12-12 at 07:11. Reason: minor edit |
2012-12-12, 19:57 | Link #3805 | ||
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
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I'm with you in the sense that I'll generally like a game if it has good characters, good romance, and a story that is rather well-executed. But I know this means that I enjoy games that a whole other audience would call "generic crap" (because they may prioritize having unique and complex stories, as opposed to solid execution of a known pattern). At the end of the day, I'm not sure if there's really anything that can totally insulate you from being disappointed, but there are various steps that can be taken to try to mitigate the risk anyway. Quote:
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2012-12-12, 20:16 | Link #3806 |
reading #hikaributts
Join Date: Feb 2009
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When picking games to try out trials, I only tend to care for the writer(s), artist(s) and the seiyuus (the last one is pretty strange criteria according to some people though XD). The rest of the staff (like for example the music composers) while probably overall relevant is not a main criteria of mine though
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2012-12-12, 21:51 | Link #3807 |
Assistant Professor
Join Date: Jul 2011
Age: 48
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They've got a new one now too? Crud, it's the holidays already. Ah well, I'll probably wait and see if my friends recommend it: I certainly wouldn't want to peruse something that turns out to be mediocre.
On the subject of recommendations though, where do you guys get yours? I purely take recommendations from my real life circle, who each have our own tastes and know each other's intimately well. I've never been guided wrong about games recommended by them - and thus it's only the fallibility of my own instincts in picking out games that's netted me a veritable trove of "disappointments". As an aside the eroge market is so saturated with mediocrity in my eyes that one really has to stomach the so-called disappointments as they come. I look back on my binges of 2005-07 when I didn't care for brand nor content and just acquired what seemed nice - set me back quite a thousand quid. Quite unfortunately, my internet connection doesn't have the necessary capacity for handling trials - my own experience in those are things included in other games (like the Rewrite trial from Kud Wafter). And quite frankly, I don't like to "spoil" myself somewhat (I know one is not really spoiled from a trial but that's just me) by using them - my motto is get in big or get out!
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2012-12-12, 22:19 | Link #3808 |
Nitro+ fan
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Hyogo
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I've actually never played a trial, come to think of it. My tastes are pretty particular, so I don't get interested in that many games to begin with. If I'm on the fence about something, or I've never played anything by that company/writer before, I'll wait till a lot of reviews come out. I try not to spoil myself, but I go for in-depth reviews and mainly pay attention to the overall/summary sections. I find that when people put a lot of effort into writing a really thoughtful review, it exposes enough of their own preferences and quirks that I can tell how much my tastes align with theirs.
PS. About halfway through Dies Irae AA. It took me a while to get into it, but consider me seriously impressed. The writer sets himself ridiculous hurdles right off the bat--I mean, how could anything be as epic as the story claims it's going to be right from the start? I found the power levels hard to swallow for a while, but two routes in, it's almost completely won me over. Going to savor playing through the rest over the holidays.
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Last edited by Dagger; 2012-12-12 at 22:32. |
2012-12-13, 01:18 | Link #3809 | |
ダメ人 - 人間失格
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Germany
Age: 37
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In real life, I don'tk know anyone who's into visual novels. Edit: I've started playing Kanojo to Ore to Koibito to. To have a super-early couple right at the beginning is a nice surprise. But, I really, really hope that it won't lead to some tearful heartbreaking when you choose to venture into another girl's route than Ayano. The way Anata no koto ni suki to iwasete handled it was in that aspect good (ignoring that the "inital" relation was just prentend-lovers)
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Last edited by Mahou; 2012-12-14 at 18:00. |
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2012-12-13, 08:30 | Link #3810 | |
今宵の虎徹は血に飢えている
Join Date: Jan 2009
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2012-12-13, 23:40 | Link #3812 | |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Age: 41
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Quote:
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2012-12-20, 10:24 | Link #3814 |
ダメ人 - 人間失格
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Germany
Age: 37
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Mahou has played into each's route of giga's Kissbell. At first glance the female cast resembles a lot the cast of HotchKiss from the appearance (not VAs). Moving on to the first point of "evaluation" the main character: Grrr ... Their other games had similar meh-mcs so no surprise here: super extremly useless @school, apologist, in h-scenes: "gaman dekinai", otherwise very generic. The word "misunderstanding" is very, very common for him . All girls are likeable in their own ways and Tomoka as a side character is the trigger of all girl routes, i. e. in making Ichiou think about *insert girl* stronger.
Spoilers for each girl's route up to confession Spoiler for Main heroines:
Personally I liked the OST of Kissbell. Some of the background tracks sound quite beautiful. TLDR: I still see absolutely no merit in making the male lead useless in schools. It feels poor for comedy reasons and serves more as a /facepalm reasons for his friends. Heck, it's even more stupid than the more-donkan-than-usual symptoms of other MCs because I can accept the reason why the MC needs to be somewhat oblivious towards the opposite gender and can be fine with it as long as it's not shoved into your face at every possible moment.
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2012-12-24, 10:51 | Link #3815 | |
今宵の虎徹は血に飢えている
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Playing through Ourai no N'gah-Kthun now....My god, Tesla's such a badass. I think this will easily be my favorite game in the Steampunk series to date.
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2012-12-24, 15:53 | Link #3818 |
ダメ人 - 人間失格
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Germany
Age: 37
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I'd like some impressions on minori's latest VN when possible. I loved Ef very much including the drama, but found in retrospec Winds only okay-ish. Hence, I'm a bit wary of Natsuzora no Perseus. 1) The vndb tag of dramatic love triangle. If it's dramatic, BUT doesn't get (or doesn't feel) dragged out too much it'll be acceptable. Same for the MC. If he's a total donkan (like in Winds during Minami's route) that's fine as long as it won't be pushed into one's face at every possible time. And I'd like to know if it has the Winds story structure of most of the game (comedy) school life and feeling-wise the last half to last quarter suddenly shifting to some dark-ish atmosphere witout (too much) of a warning.
Otherwise: I've played a bit Koiken Otome. It's also okay-ish with a theme (during the common route) of hard work > talent. Given that the MC has an exceptional special ability "power level", but can't use said ability at the beginning (him being a combat supporter is nice). Heroine 1 comes from a hero-ish legacy, but isn't very strong (hence her putting much effort into training) and heroine 2, who's the most talented of the class, but won't get serious in combat. Ironically the heroine from the rival school calling them "Hetare trio" is quite fitting Anyway, while the game has a few good ideas, I feel as if a something is missing somehow. Still, Yuzu is adorable. Being the only non-fighter she's the main reason why the protagonist is able to survive in a battle by himself. Thanks to Yuzu's technical douryoku-support devices.
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2012-12-24, 16:01 | Link #3819 |
reading #hikaributts
Join Date: Feb 2009
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Mixed feelings for Koiken otome. Overall it was good, but it doesn't seem to make full use of it's own settings. The whole backstory that people have powers was because of a war against some kind of monster almost 1000 years ago, was just an excuse to give everyone powers. Seiichi's magic power amping abilities also felt like an excuse to be surrounded by beautifull girls.
Lot's of extra characters felt pretty useless for the story (like the other "elite trio" of the school or the 2 in Eve's team). The common route was very misleading if you thought that the story was going to be an action paced one (it was completely about an annual tournament) , because the character indivdual routes were more like a regular romance story. Some routes had problems when it comes to needless drama, but it didn't bother me too much. The art is good, but the music aside from some battle tracks didn't stand out for me. Eve (or rather Yves according to the spelling in game) ended being my favorite heroine because she a decent written character and had a decent route, plus she is voiced by Misono Moriya Time to start Natsuzora no Perseus. |
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bishoujo game, ero-game, eroge, visual novel |
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