I can’t say the big ideas are effectively presented, or seriously examined, either. It’s a good thing the voice acting is so great it elevates the script (except for the eponymous character, who gets the usual nails-on-chalkboard voice), because otherwise these bland parts would be difficult to wader through. The overall ideas, and some portions of the story do shine, but between them are large parts of generic writing, without much character or color. I fear it may give people the wrong impression.Īs I said, this is clearly the work of an ambitious young writer who still hasn’t fully mastered the craft of writing, and judging from the reputation of his later works, probably never did. The problem arises when a site like Hardcore Gaming 101 run a gushing Yu-No article that oversells it, praising it as something it isn’t. I think it’s something that has more historic value than actual merit, more youthful ambition than realized potential. Keep in mind that I have spent more time researching the history of visual novels than actually reading them, and I’m still learning Japanese, so much of my VN knowledge is obtained from Chinese sources. I finished Yu-No using the English patch two months ago, so here’s a review, for HRose at least. The translation is complete and already available, but it’s waiting for a pass of polish and editing. The VN in the second place is Steins Gate, and the english patch is almost done. From what I heard because of plot and a very good ending (it’s also one of the longest, 44 hours on average to complete). This is relevant because, while this VN is old, in Japan is still considered today the best ever released in the genre. A quick search says that the previous games in the series don’t have patches either, although it might be that my Google-fu is weak.īump to point out that YU-NO english translation + full voice patch is out. Baldr Sky has been released in Japanese only in the past two years so there’s no fan translation. =/ English fan translations do happen, but they also take a long time. Malkav11: Sorry, but yeah, you’re out of luck. This is one of the reasons it’s a good idea to check out reviews before picking up a VN, since “6 story routes and eleventy-three endings!” can be a bullet point on the box even if the only real difference is the denouement. Sometimes the only difference is which character gets kidnapped by the villain and must be rescued at the end of the story. The other 80% of the novel is what you actually spend time on after the first playthrough.įor other VNs, it can vary as to how much is on the “trunk” and how much is on the “branches” of the storyline. But that’s OK, because you have the visual novel standard feature where you can fast forward through text automatically once you’ve read it once, and for the entire rest of the visual novel you will already know the lore and all of the “rules” of the magical mischief. Then you troop off to a church where the plot slows down to molasses as a character viciously smites Our Hero in the noggin with a Warhammer of Plot Exposition +3. Fate/Stay Night’s 15-20% overlap definitely falls in that category you meet Shirou, his friends, his enemies, his magical minion, etc. The nice thing is that there’s a tendency to have an introductory section where all of the character introductions and world-lore are filled in for you. The average visual novel is average, which the thesaurus reminds us also means “mediocre”. Yeah, I should probably stop and note for everyone following along at home that “awesome branching storyline coolness” is only a feature for visual novels that are actually good.
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