Well Umineko, among things, references Earth Defence Force.
This certainly has a form of merit as far as I’m concerned XD
References (that are clearly meant to be serious, not for fun) can have literary merit and can make a work more profound as well. It just depends on how it’s utilized. For instance, any story can quote/reference the Bible to make itself ~deep and intelligent~ but it depends on how the writer applies (or develops) that reference to the story/characters/setting/themes that make that reference have any merit whatsoever if it’s meant to be serious.
Although I should have provided more examples in the OP, (and make the point of the thread clearer) yes.
But wouldn’t equally deep original ideas be more interesting, and change the shape of the medium more?
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I’m beginning to repeat myself at this point, so let me break it down for you into something simple:
The last two replies made to you and Usagi were meant to apologize for my dismissive behavior and acknowledge that my OP should’ve included a more holistic definition of what I considered to be literary merit or what makes stories more profound than others, even if that it is mostly subjective.
The reply I made you you personally 16h ago was me clarifying why references should be considered a form of merit, but they are NOT the only way to make the medium more deep and interesting. I should have provided more examples and yes, original ideas would also be a form of literary merit. In fact I consider it to be more substantial than references to other works.
While references and critisms can add a lot to a story, it can also do the opposite, like coming off pretentious and preachy.
What matters the most in a story is making people care about it and as art, conveying emotions. Relying on certain structures, tropes and techniques availible for the medium. Certain devices are used to appeal to a certain audience which creates a barrier for others sadly, be it the medium itself sometimes. There are also VNs with explicit scenes that are highly regarded, to say every literary product has it’s quirks.
And Umineko executes techniques well most of the time. And while Umineko is up there with the better VNs, it isnt exactly a masterpiece.
I mean nothing can beats “Please bang my wife” which you can now buy on Mangagamer. Now that’s a masterpiece!