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Sister Sunny
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Ryuo gets interviewed by Nero Valzer! comments · Posted in Ryuo gets interviewed by Nero Valzer! comments
This VN was a masterpiece. 12/10, absolutely. Let me explain why (without spoilers).
First of all, let's get the negative out and over with. The main character has some unimaginably horrifying stuff happen to him... mostly off-screen--or told through glimpses--and unfortunately, understandably, this fucks him up quite a bit. It could well have been the start of a villain arc where he kills everyone he knows, but (spoilers) he doesn't.
Still, let me be transparent: the issue I have with the MC is his dishonesty about one specific but crucial aspect of himself which is most notable from the 50-80% mark. It's far from the end of the world. But on multiple occasions, I won't lie, I slammed my laptop shut and screamed with frustration.
I will say, dishonesty will frustrate different people to different extents, but I will warn only of this: the dishonesty is with the love interest. He breaks his trust by keeping a huge secret from him.
Now, you know the very worst that this VN has to offer, let me start talking about the rest.
First of all, the characters. Despite my having just explained how the MC's behaviour constitutes my most notable and only dislike of the story, I will note that it never dissuaded me from continuing because, yes, sure, the plot was fucking amazing, but also, the characters were too, and even whilst I wanted to strangle MC, I stayed invested in him and only wanted the best for him.
Every side character seemed to be an endless depth of intricacy which was only ever slightly plumbed. Really. If the character had a sprite, there was more there than you know, and more there than we ever learn.
I will quickly talk about the love interest, now. Loken. Lokennn. LOKENN. I LOVE YOUUUUUU LOKENNNNNNN PLEASEEEEEE LOKEEEEEEEEENNNNNNEARFBNAEIKRFBAKHERB FV;HJKAEBRFVHAEB RFB;AELBAELJHB LEHJKRBV ;HKEA PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEE
I believe this is the popular consensus.
The world also had this constant feeling of depth. I really felt that everywhere in Illayla, and even beyond, was incredibly well-fleshed-out. It was always a joy to read the worldbuilding, and history. This whole story felt like a constant stream of shit getting deeper and deeper and-
Okay this just reminded me. It is wild, I tell you absolutely WILD the way this game turns 300k+ words spread out around 2 weeks in to what feels like months or even years of character development. It feels strange, seeing the MC near the end, at the end, and remembering how so recently he was so naïve. So naïve. Oh god.
The story. Its constant mystery, where every new reveal just led to more questions--it really made things feel like this whole world was unknowable. Indeed, the VN finished with FAR from all questions answered. Its final post-credits is cruelly ambiguous. It's a happy ending! I think. Well. We don't see anything explicitly bad.
Look. The romance is something more important in the first half of the VN than the second. It's delicious and gripping and as aforementioned, Loken, yes, but, anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes. This VN is not a romance VN. As described, it is a subplot which just keeps you occupied whilst the actual mystery is slowly unravelled. Oh, and to occasionally make you wail in despair. But that's neither here nor there!
What about the cosmic horror!? Let me tell you. It was scary. I did genuinely shiver in fear a few times. This isn't a game made to jumpscare you, but the first 2/3 definitely get atmosphere down to a T.
If there's anything I'd say about the horror, it's that, as the stakes get higher and higher, our MC also gets more and more aggressive, and in a juddering, uneven way, powerful. It does make it slightly less scary when the MC laughs maniacally at an incomprehensible evil and threatens it with incomprehensible suffering. But that's a rush of its own kind, so I'm not really complaining.
Man, if I had to name everything I loved about this VN, I'd be here all day. The romance is impeccable. Every character is amazing. The mystery is fantabulous. The horror gorgeous. The atmosphere mwah, the music and ambiance chef's kiss... bro I can't shut up about this. Ask me anything, I'm sure I've forgor some shit already
12/10
oooooohhhh this was GOOD SHIT. Very satisfying, can be read in two hours, with a good plot and some moments that are genuinely scary. I liked that I was able to figure out the twist in time to get the soonest possible good ending, but honestly... and this is a rare thing indeed... I think, even after choosing literally every 'bad idea' option offered, the worst ending is still really not that bad. A rare, strangely hopeful horror game. Perfect for a Halloween you intend to celebrate but without skipping on sleep
OKAY.
Here's the thing. I'll open with the worst part of this game.
The translation. By god, the translation from Russian to English was done so poorly. Get ready to be confused for things like calling the protagonist 'plastic' to mean they're 'flexible' because of a direct translation.
But, on the other hand, the translation really doesn't get in the way of enjoying the story, funnily enough. Usually, I'm the first one to bow out of a poorly-translated story--it's happened, for example, with danmei books--but here, the art, the music, and most importantly, the characters themselves, kept me more than hooked by themselves.
Let us begin with the art. Oh my god. Impeccable. Every single asset in this VN look like blood, sweat, and tears went into lovingly hand-crafting it. It makes even just looking at any given scene a pleasing experience. And the CGs, when they come, are just gorgeous.
Next, the music. For some reason, the different songs are set at different default volumes, so you might have to adjust the volume throughout the VN, but every one of the songs was pleasant to listen to, they never got annoying despite there (as far as I know) not being a moment of reprieve. And of course, they added so much to the important moments.
Finally, the characters. This is really where the writing shines, which only makes the shoddy translation all the more tragic--the writers really knew what they were doing, and the main cast of three had my heart locked down for them through the entire story. The side characters varied in how much I liked them, but that was never a problem, with the protagonist always viewing everything through an interesting lens.
Oh yes, the protagonist is so severely autistic he can barely function. I see pieces of myself in him, it's endearing to me. If you aren't autistic and find his behaviour rude, I think it'll still be interesting, because the VN takes place entirely from his unreliable perspective, so it's fascinating to see what the narrator puts forward, whilst trying to discern what he's missing between the lines.
All in all, a fabulous game, which should be read despite the translation, as the core of it is what matters.
And if you can read Russian, oh my god, you have no excuse, just go read this VN now
A Demon Within Shelter - First Release! ( + 中文 ! ) comments · Posted in A Demon Within Shelter - First Release! ( + 中文 ! ) comments
I fucking screamed. Twice. The funny thing? I saw the first 'jumpscare' image on bsky the day before. I looked at that and went 'is this supposed to be scary? Maybe it's a contextual thing.' And then I looked at the alt text, which was something something 'disturbingly wide smile' and I noticed indeed how wide it was; how wide the eyes.
There wasn't context. Just a constant atmosphere of dread, so much dread, and a soft 'thump' as the image appeared. I screamed.
One hour long read, and it wasn't even the last time.
Amazing visuals, writing, and oh my god, sound design. Bravo
It's amazing to see how much you progressed in art in such a short time between WIKY and WIFL, but honestly the writing was just as good as always. In fact, I liked Callum as a character more than Mylo for the simple fact I feel he made fewer mistakes in the first half. I just basically loved every character, honestly, despite everything that happens. The plot kept me hooked, Marcus had me hooked, their relationship had me hooked, just, yes.
Also, I screenshotted Marcus's appearance at the end of WIFL so I could refer back to it throughout my readthrough because oh my god he just looks so real and beautiful and boopable
Well... damn. I was not expecting this to be as good as it was.
Listen, early on, you're going to be hit with a major hurdle to continue reading: tolerating the protagonist's self-sabotage. It's there, and it's infuriating, but it is not a core character trait, and it's very satisfying watching him better himself (and be bullied into being better) as the story progresses!
No the art isn't Michaelangelo but it has its moments, and anyway what shines brightest is the writing. It's honestly so well written, hilarious when it wants to be, and genuinely crushing when it tries. And boy, it tries a few times throughout. This is, ultimately, a very hopeful and happy story, thank fuck, it didn't leave me sobbing, thank fuck, but it's just so well done.
A good idea, well executed. By the way, am I the only one who feels like JJ's Wasted Love (Austria's Eurovision winning song) is a perfect fit for the first third of this story? Jakob really do be making us feel that way iaeluvbeiljbvae
Just finished rereading it.
It makes so much more sense. Enjoyed it just as much as the first time around, maybe more. I understand. Somewhat. Not everything, gods no. I think the only person who understands it all is the creator.
It's not the best visual novel I've ever read.
It's the best story I've ever read. Ever.
Wow. This was the best visual novel I've ever read. And yes, I've read Adastra, Echo, Shelter, In case of emergency, etc... it's just that good. Absolute mindfuck. Absolutely raucous laughter almost throughout. Absolutely unabashedly loveable characters. Ian is baby. Kurt is fun. Even the side characters, Andrew... Fisher, were amazing. Everything just. Blew me away. Art, yes, that too. If this were priced at a hardcover book I'd buy it instantly. Oh my god. The micro-expressions. The amazing comedic timing. I still don't understand everything that's going on and that's the beauty of it. I think I'm going to reread it from start to finish to better appreciate all the twists. I think I may have to do so multiple times to truly understand what happened. Wow
On My Science Fiction and Furry Media Problem comments · Posted in On My Science Fiction and Furry Media Problem comments
Some little changes / Quelques petits changements comments · Posted in Some little changes / Quelques petits changements comments
Holy. Shit. I read the dev log mentioning that the writing would be toned down and rewritten in future updates, and whilst I understand why, I just want to say, I LOVE IT. My first experience with this game was having it muted whilst I quickly finished an email, coming back to it, unmuting it, and being blasted with the main menu song going unnecessarily hard with the gorgeous art in the background. The cryptic intro was giving me that amazing feeling of the sublime that I absolutely love, and even more than that, the amount of worldbuilding. Granted, this was one feature that I think actually was a bit distracting, as worldbuilding nerd that I am, I stopped reading every time a notification popped up to get the lore, but maybe just making the notification discreet or even nonexistent would fix that, just by making it so you only read them in longer, more spaced-out bursts, instead of getting the urge to read them every time? idk
also, listening to the soundtrack rn as I write this and UGHHHHHHHH shit FUCKS so hard, I've never gotten such cinematic vibes from a VN before, except maybe soulcreek? but even then, soulcreek has like one song that slaps and the rest is just really good sound design, this vn is one chapter in and there are like, a good six I'd happily put on my playlist. Okay, that's a lie. Maybe eight.
I feel obliged to keep talking about the writing. It's so UGH YES, just MMMM yes. I'M ONE CHAPTER IN Y'ALL and it's serving total cunt at every turn from poetry to cryptic verse to witty banter, and just, it's the small things, like 'LOOM' tying into the motif of threads, or the first time you see the LOOM entry it's corrupted with Kavir(?)'s commentary near the end. The attention to detail is just fucking fabulous.
Also, the premise is yes.
And it's just so original? Like, yes, frostbitten worlds are a trope. But has literal storytelling magic ever been done before? A youtuber I watch (Nakari Speardane) has a somewhat similar idea of magic manifesting what people believe to be the truth into it, but still, that's not even close to the way this interlinks with the post-acopalypse of the world, and IBSIHCBEWLHJCBHIBV
just oh my god. Have I ever been so thoroughly hooked, lined, and sinkered so quickly before? I don't think so. This VN is unique in that way
Tl;Dr please don't change the prose too much I love it so much
This made me shiver in fear, and cry with emotion. I am not your average Goodreads keysmasher; I do not cry for nothing. No, it takes beautiful writing, and wonderful music, and gorgeous art, and this VN had all of that in spades. You can clearly see the effort that went into it, and more importantly, the love.