@StarTurner gave me Root Double a day or so ago (lately the days have been blurring together from sickness and disturbed sleep, haha
I’m excited to get to read it!
6 Likes
I started reading an LP of it today due to lack of access to any type of console besides phone. My life sucks.
So, I’ve read enough of Root Double to finally learn about the senses thing. @StarTurner warned me it wouldn’t be easy and I laughed it off…and died right after. lmao. Very interesting! I’ve only ever read kinetic visual novels (only 07th stuff and like one other short vn), so this sort of system is pretty neat to me, even if it’s not very impressive to others.
4 Likes
It is going to be the bane of all VN completionists, but I think having a trust system in a mystery VN is a pretty interesting and fitting mechanic.
2 Likes
It’s not so bad. The only relevant values on the SSS are the ones you can change at that moment and you can see all outcomes just using the bottom middle and top of the bars iirc.
…but unfortunately for these reasons it’s basically a glorified decision box, with a little bit of extra annoying ambiguity thrown on top.
2 Likes
The implementation does leave some real room for improvement, but I feel like the bones are there to do something really interesting. It worked okay for Root Double, but could be great if they try to implement in a future title.
I agree that the idea is intriguing, but I think that the Senses system way too broad/vague as it is to stand up to expectations.
Raising the meter (for person X, say) feels like it could mean any of the following:
-Trust X
-Focus your attention on X
-Develop personal/romantic interest for X
-Prioritize X over others
etc. etc.
And in Root Double, that interpretation is left up to the reader but the results don’t always reflect that. So we all consult walkthroughs.
…I feel it’s slightly overrated, myself. Probably due to the soundtrack and the art style (both of which I found generic, to be honest), I didn’t really feel invested in the story. Endgame spoilers for Root Double: I especially didn’t like how the game treated the fine line between activism/vigilantism and terrorism, especially- it tried to establish a moral and ethical dilemma surrounding Watase’s past, but drew back its punch at the end by Watase going “oh right it was actually the terrorists who killed my sister anyway and terrorism is bad so I was wrong and therefore I have no conflicts about it”- I think a better message to carry across would’ve been that even though it would be understandable for him to do so, Watase was wrong to join a terrorist organization to strike back against the government and BC users, because terrorism hurts innocent people. Instead, just about everything that goes wrong in Watase’s past is laid on the terrorist organization, which really kills the moral ambiguity of his character.
…Anyway, trying to get into Sekien no Inganock. The art and music should’ve drawn me right in, but I’m just not feeling it. I got addicted to Dark Souls 2, I guess…
Same as Above To be fair that was an argument constructed by Natsuhi to appeal to Watase’s emotions to defuse the situation.
Has anyone played Root Letter? Is it as heinously terrible as people have said?
I’m a TYPE-MOON fan, so I’ve played/read most of the Type-Moon works. I’ve played three of the Science Adventure games (Steins;Gate, Steins;Gate 0, and Robotics;Notes). I’ve read Air and Little Busters for Key stuff. That’s about it
5 Likes
Hmm, I’ve got so much to say about this topic, and at the same time…I’m not sure what to say. Visual novels are a rather appealing medium for me, as I happen to love anime, games and books, and when you combine some of the things I love into one medium, it’s inevitably gonna be great! Though, I can see why some might think otherwise.
Key VNs are pretty standard but likable as far as things go, I’m pretty fond of those. I’d say stuff like, say, The House in Fata Morgana and Gakhthun of the Golden Lightning, are what I love the most. The two aren’t exactly very related, but when I try to think of what kind of VNs I love, Sakurai VNs and this one in particular comes to mind.
I’m also quite fond of the Zero Escape series (even though I’ve only played VLR), and Root Double plus the infinity series is quite great as well.
Robotic;Notes? Did you read it in Japanese, or TLed? As far as I know, there doesn’t exist a TLed version of it.
Weird story about that. I technically didn’t read it. My friend Ryuunosuke played it with me, and he translated the dialogue for me. lol. I know some basic hiragana but the complicated bits, he helped me greatly. It was a fun experience actually.
2 Likes
I just finished Steins;Gate 0 and… Wow… My brain. I feel like I’m about to collapse through sheer mental exhaustion and stress. I feel like I need to talk about it.
I’m a huge Steins;Gate fan, the original VN and all related works got me through a very difficult time in my life, and because of that I have an overwhelming nostalgia and love for the series and characters. That said… Steins;Gate 0 might be even better than the original. Which is insane to me. The way it all ties together at the end, how Kagari’s character becomes more and more heartbreaking the more I think about it after achieving the true end, Rukako’s death scene, the villains plan, even the set-up that shows us that not even the Steins;Gate world-line will be as safe as we thought it was.
It also continues being one of the only time-travel stories in existence without any plot-holes, so I can confirm that this is a top notch VN.
Seriously, if anyone here has yet to experience S;G, I cannot tell you how much I recommend it.
TL;DR Steins;Gate 0 made me feel too many emotions and now my heart hurts. And you should make yours hurt by reading it, too.
7 Likes
Woah, now that’s neat. Not everyday you get to read a VN like that. Sounds pretty cool~
It was, thought it was frustrating too. As it wasnt a complete experience either way. Still, I’m pretty grateful to him
How is the Robotics;Notes VN? I really loved the anime. One of the shows that gives me a soft spot for the Fall 2012 season.
It was pretty cool. I couldn’t really tell you about the quality of the writing as I don’t read Japanese, but the sound designs and cg art were pretty cool.
1 Like
So suffice to say, given my VNDB(,https://vndb.org/u51741/list?c=all;v=0;t=-1;o=d;s=vote) I am an avid visual novel reader. Apparently I have read 50+ visual novels according to that thing!
In any case, I am gonna talk about the latest VN I read l- Dies Irae.
Dies Irae is a visual novel by Light that is expertly penned by Masada Takashi and beautifully illustrated
by G-Yuusuke. Dies Irae begins with a mysterious ritual that begins in 1945 Berlin lead by an even more
mysterious group of supernatural ubermensch known as the LDO. Dies Irae immediately captures one’s
attention with these LDO members and you can’t help but be intrigued by them thanks to G-Yuusuke’s
wonderful character designs and Masada’s colorful dialogue. You will hear me say this a lot, but what
truly is captivating about Dies Irae is not its plot or not even its cool high action scenes, but it is the
characters that make you want to stick around.
After the mysterious ritual, the visual novel jumps into 2006 Japan where we meet our principle
protagonist- Ren Fuji as he becomes embroiled in the LDO’s machinations. The visual novel goes as
one’s expects as Ren fights his way through LDO’s members and fights to gain his daily life back. While
this set up is in a way clichéd, the journey is enthralling nonetheless thanks to the Dies Irae’s ability to
pull you in through its characters. Each character, especially the villains, all have layers that slowly reveal
themselves in unexpected ways. The villains in particular have nuanced and ambiguous interactions that
allow the reader to be continuously wondering about what drives these characters.
In a way, Dies Irae lacks character development as the characters remain static throughout the novel.
Instead however, Dies Irae’s character writing is one of discovering what truly motivates these
characters and makes them tick. The discovery is very enthralling as unlike a typical anime or a visual
novel, one cannot trace the root of these characters to a mere tragic event in their past and call it a day.
These characters continuingly have layers that are both self-contradictory and self-defeating. The
characters are most earnest in pursuing their desires and discovering what those desires truly are is one
of the best parts of Dies Irae.
This strong character writing can be attributed to Masada’s prose, which is flourished with both style
and substance. Additionally Masada’s writing is just so damn quotable that you can’t help but buy into
the grandiose spectacle that is Dies Irae. However, Masada’s writing can also lean on the too heavy side
at times and this slows down the pacing of the visual novel. In particular, the battle scenes suffer from
this at times, despite the beautifully over the top writing in these scenes. While I personally felt the
weightiness of the prose was not outweighed by its beauty, prospective reader’s bewarned that Dies
Irae can be too verbose for its own good at times.
Dies Irae’s production values are also top notch. The soundtrack is stellar and the art by G-Yuusuke is
amazing. Furthermore, the voice acting in the work is so well done, that I truly believed that this was the
voice actor’s best work yet. The likes of Jun Suwabe’s Reinhard , Sakiware Spoon’s Mercerius, and
Taniyama Kishou’s Wilhelm were all music to my ears.
Thus Dies Irae is a fascinating battle opera with fascinating actors. While its plot may be clichéd, and its
prose may be too heavy, the visual novel will pull you in regardless. I highly recommend this one to all.
3 Likes
I hear that Umineko does in some ways tout similar ideas as Subahibi and that they are similar in presenting their narrative, so it will be pretty interesting to see Subahibi in action come this Fall!
1 Like