NeutralDrow said:
GabeZhul said:
NeutralDrow said:
Grisaia is a mixed bag. Amane's and Makina's routes are really not about romance, Michiru's route is a trainwreck with some of the most infuriating plot-devices ever (which also stunt the relationship-development for a good 80% of the route), Sachi's route was a mixed bag, with a boring first half and a pretty good second half and an actually interesting romance while Yukino's was just over the top, though it at least delved a little deeper into the relationship than the others thanks to its longer timeframe.
Cool, a somewhat new perspective. Most of the opinion in the group seems to be that Amane's and Makina's routes are worthwhile and Michiru's terrible, but also that Sachi's fairly good overall and Yumiko's is incredibly boring.
I'll be interested to see how much I'll agree, since I'm most patient when given characters I like, which is everyone so far (particularly Yumiko) except maybe Makina.
As for Heart de Roommate, I have no idea since I never read it, but as far as I can gather people generally disliked it because the hetare protagonist (I don't even know why some Japanese writers have an obsession with completely worthless protagonists that everyone hates, I suppose they might try to pander to their local otaku audience or something), dumb plot and whiplash-inducing genre shifts in the routes (from romcom about a crosdressing boy in a girl's dorm to utsuge with heroine deaths). All in all, I think it's just not a story designed for a western audience, as Japanese are much more tolerant to annoying protagonists and ambiguous, depressing endings than we are.
Petty as it might sound, that dislike being so prevalent was part of what drove me away from signing up at VNDB. HdR was hardly the best VN in the world, I'd call it decent at best, but the hate the protagonist gets is pretty ridiculous. Being domineered by two or three other characters (one of whom is already ludicrously obnoxious and violent[footnote]Who actually completely turned my opinion around by the end, though, more than any other character. Different strokes.[/footnote]) for half of a game is enough to be considered a spineless wimp like that guy from Chaos;Head, or a genuinely worthless human being like Makoto from School Days?
But then, I never felt much whiplash, either (except for one kind of intriguing bad end), so what do I know? >_>
Grisaia: Amane's and Makina's routes are the best from an overall plot-standpoint, and that is where the characterization of Yuuji shines the brightest. On the other hand, Fujisaki cannot write romance even if it were to kill him, so those routes only has it as a side-element. Which is not a bad thing, but it is quite jarring compared to the rest of the VN.
As for what you mentioned about the other routes, it's generally true. Sachi's has a very well-written ending that is worth slogging through the first half for, Yumiko's route is unnecessarily long an a more boring version of Makina's with its only two saving graces being deredere Yumiko and the completeness of the ending. As for Michiru, the route's writer simply didn't get the memos from the others and somehow managed to butcher all the characters' personalities while completely derailing the theme of the story with some silly supernatural nonsense. So yeah, mixed bag.
Heart de Roommate: As I said, I can only depend on second-hand information in this regard. I still think that the main issue here is a disconnect between cultures coupled with wrong expectations. But yeah, different strokes, I suppose.
Also, about your two other examples: Takumi in C;H was supposed to be an over-the-top lampshaded version of the typical hetare protagonist while Makoto is... well, Makoto is just a horrible character altogether. I am glad I finally found someone to agree with me on that, most people I talk about him seemed eerily supportive of the jerkwad, putting all the blame on the girls and the circumstances. -.-
VNDB: You know, I can't really fault you. We are not really a newbie-friendly community, mostly because 80% of the discussions are done in the VNDB headspace where we are discussing tropes and plot-devices and database-related issues and such with our own terminologies and mutual understanding of the subject material, and when a new guy barges into one of those to tote their usually uninformed opinions, it tends to make the regulars a wee bit too aggressive.
The remaining 20% are the threads that get locked right away because they either have nothing to do with the DB, or recommendation threads that are against the forum rules, and since I am the dicussion board mod, it's usually me who has to deal with this (which apparently gave me a weird reputation of being an asshole, go figure -.-'). So yeah, no one is blaming you for keeping your distance, it's not a community for everyone.
Finally... WOW, we went
seriously off-topic, didn't we?
