Update One Hundred and Sixty-Four: 2 May 2018
Shuffle!
97 hours, 12 of 12 achievements
3/10
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
I cannot be happier now that I’ve finished Non-Violent* Sexist Microagressions: the Game.
80% of the reasons you’re given to care about these girls (all seven of them) is being told over and over again how beautiful and perfect their looks are. The girls largely have the same personality - the generic feminine ideal one, where their best and most worthwhile qualities are how well they can support the MC by doing everything for him. These fucking girls are the character equivalent of LaCroix - like drinking plain water and hearing someone shout the name of a fruit (or a general character archtype) from across the room. That’s not even getting into the rampant use of ‘what full-blooded man wouldn’t want to’ and then insinuations that these girls aren’t safe from male conquest because of their looks, how they have to protect themselves because they look so good, over and over and over again. It’s presented in a light and funny jokey way, which is the most… fucking…
And THAT’S not even getting into the fucking little girl character they have, which combines the ‘I’ve been created in a lab so I’m barely human’ trope and ‘I’ve imprinted on you’ trope AND the ‘you’re my big brother and somehow that’s sexually attractive’ bullshit. Jailbait ‘jokes’ abound. I saved this route for last, and I’m going to be real with you, when this character suddenly learned feelings and proceeded to act like a YOUNG child and tried to feed the MC, I gave the fuck up and skipped the route. (Giselle, I hope you can forgive me.) I couldn’t sit through this shit, I’m sorry.
This is store-brand CLANNAD. Great Value CLANNAD. No, worse. This is factory recall CLANNAD. Just read CLANNAD instead, those girls actually have lives outside of the MC. (And no really dumb convoluted fantasy backdrop that is barely explored at all).
One positive point: this is the first Japanese VN I’ve read that’s featured a male nipple. One line made me laugh. That’s about it.
Life-wise, though, things have been going really well!!!!! Tonight I had my eighth roller derby practice, and it was my best practice yet!!! At first I was a little sad because I was part of the lowest-level rookie group that wasn’t allowed to participate in the rookie skirmish today, but that meant that the veteran running the training wheels program could really focus on us. This practice we practiced again the same skills I tried during my very first practice…
And I could do them all this time. You GUYS. I was losing my whole ass fucking mind, I was bonkers in funcking Yonkers, over the fact that I could plow stop, and weave my feet out and together without lifting them from the floor. Two months ago, when I started, I had no idea how I would ever do those things, and I did them today. Maybe by my birthday I’ll be able to skirmish!
Next up:
I really really like the theme this month, so I’m going to be exclusively playing games that fit it. I went through my entire backlog and sorted them into lists (VN and other games) and I hope to clear as many as I can out. So, without further ado -
I got this game as a gift from a good friend of mine, Brian. Thank you Brian!
See you soon!
*Also referred to as ‘benevolent’ sexism, but I don’t love that term because there’s nothing really benevolent about it. Think of it as the guilded cage rather than the clenched fist. One precludes the other, though.
I’m surprised you even gave it 4/10 since you seem to dislike it so much. :o
And I just finished my first ever VN(Divine Slice of Life) and I must say I had the same feeling that you have here. I know that not all VN are like this but damn, I felt very uncomfortable playing through it and it’ll definitely effect my willingness to play VN in the future.
You have a point! I’m dropping this shit down to a 3 (‘bad’ vs 4 as ‘weak’).
Like I said to Formidolosus above, I completely understand that. There are worthwhile stories to be found that aren’t just softcore porn (and, even then, if they’re softcore porn its well-written, emotionally intimate softcore porn) if you know where and how to look.
Yeah, I do understand that there are good games in the VN genre. It’s just that, there’s too many shit ones. xD
I have played “Forget Me Not: My Organic Garden” and I really liked it. :3 The stories are quite nice~Also I was mainly drawn to it by its clicker aspect. :P
And the list EvilBlackSheep picked for me includes Fault - Milestone One. So I’ll be playing that when I get to it. x3
There are SO MANY shit VNs to wade through @_@
Oh, nice! I was really charmed by Forget Me Not - I thought it was really very unique. If you liked that, I’d also suggest 1bitHeart - while it’s not a clicker, it also has a bunch of different characters and each one has their own little short story. Both games have great art and great character design, so one made me think of the other.
Fault is a good choice, too. I hope you enjoy it c:
LOL, well I was going to say, “what did you expect,” or something like that, but it kept coming off too snide. I know you have a nicely curated list of VNs that aren’t just softcore porn and/or featuring sexualized children, but it sure seems like your list is the vast minority. Not sure why you’d sit through the whole thing when it turns out to be one of those games (or worse)…but maybe for achievements? :p
Glad you had such a good week, though!
It’s absolutely for achievements =_=
I also have a little bit of pride to protect - I try not to just speed-skip through VNs unless I really can’t take it anymore. I think this is the third time I’ve done it.
I care enough about this genre to want to try to be as well-rounded as I can, and sometimes that means sitting through bad things.
Thank you, Trent!!!!! I really am over the moon - although now, the day after, I’m kind of stiff.
I also have the achievement problem. xD
Finished the bad game I talked about and even saw the “Best best ending” with all 4 girls being the main character’s which makes me sick. =.=
But gotta get the achievement. >~<
It’s a curse! But whatever helps keep that percentage high…
I gave the same score to Shuffle! the anime. 3/10 xD
I honestly can’t recall why but upon reading your opinion I believe it’s better this way!
Congrats on your roller progresses and I’ll be looking forward to your next game review. I know I had it on my wishlist but for some reason I removed it and can’t remember why so yeah. Curious to see what you’ll think of it.
Anyway good luck with everything :D
Great minds think alike, huh? c;
Thank you, adil! Hopefully this VN ends up nice so I can recommend it - I have high hopes for it!
Welp on the bright side your pain wasn’t alll for nothing, we know to steer clear. :D
Best of luck with the monthly challenge! Hope this VN’s a much more enjoyable experience. :)
I know! This is proving to be one of my more popular reviews, so I’m glad my pain helped!
I think it will be c: I’m only a little of the way in, but it’s charming already. And it’s girlxgirl! CUTE girlxgirl! I’m all abt that!
This is basically why I avoid visual novels. The whole concept around most of them seems to be aimed at the idea that women exist only to serve men, and even those that give them more depth then undermine that with ‘lewd’ or ‘pervy’ artwork. I’m sure it’s not the case for all of them and no doubt you’ll have a list of those that aren’t like that, but it’s enough to put me off the genre as a whole.
You know? I can’t even fault you for that. There’s a large swath of them that really are just like that - if you go on the Visual Novel Database and hit ‘random’, it’s more likely than not within the first two random entries you get is porn, whether hard or softcore, and oftentimes it’s pretty horrifying. It’s a genre that is relatively easy to produce, so there’s a much lower common denominator. The genre definitely has a very crappy reputation.
But what I’ve found is that as time progresses, as political sensibilities (in Japan, China, and in America and England with original english VNs) change, as more actual women and actual queer people make VNs, more good stuff happen. This is the 113th VN I’ve read and while it does take some effort to separate the wheat from the chaff, there IS good to be found in this genre, I feel it.
Well I have cinders and hatoful boyfriend in my backlog, both of which are one your list. Maybe I’ll play one. I think it helps that the artwork on those two is not the usual style, so it’s less likely that there’ll be cat girls shedding their clothes at the drop of a hat.
Both great choices! Hatoful Boyfriend is a real roller coaster in a great way, and Cinders is a very well told, lovely story.
Can confirm: no naked catgirls