Forum - View topicGAME: Aquapazza
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Fencedude5609
 Posts: 5088 |
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You just couldn't help yourselves, could you? |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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What's wrong with that particular phrasing? |
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mdo7
 Posts: 6253 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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I don't want to use this, but I think fencedude implying that you pandered to this game because of the cute girls. That's what I think, but it can subjected to many interpretation. 
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Chagen46
 Posts: 4377 |
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What? It was made by the creators of Daemon Bride and Arcana Heart. Yhe poverty scene was expecting a good game from the get go. Your fault for judging it harshly without looking up its pedigree. |
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Juno016
 Posts: 2381 |
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"Nauseatingly cute" is a bit... weird phrasing for a game that's meant to be about these kinds of visual novel characters. I mean, if you're getting this game, then you're probably already a fan of the other works. And thus, you probably would EXPECT this. You just might LIKE the "nauseatingly cute" aspects. So it would be a PRO, not a CON. Obviously, that's not the case for the review, and there's nothing wrong with having that opinion, but that doesn't make the game worse. I just don't know how anyone could expect anything otherwise from a title like this. Same with the "story." While I definitely think a good story would add to the fun, it's hardly a fault that it doesn't focus on its story mode and just puts that in there to relatively familiarize people with other characters they might not actually know or whatever reason they put story modes in fighting games nowadays. Aside from the Naruto Storm games, which are a passion project toward the series and its story in the first place, I don't think I've ever played a fighting game with a real story before, anyway. Like, a story that involves more than characters finding random reasons to fight each other. So while I don't fault the review for its disappointments, I also think that it's a bit unfortunate that it emphasized them. The game was never advertised as anything bigger or different than what it is. And that might keep it from being an original, epic-tier game or anything relatively close to that, but they still excelled at what they intended for the game. Thus, it may not fare well as an overall fighting game when compared to the big-money franchises that have already established a good name for themselves, but it sure looks like it's a good step above most other games in its intended niche, and that's going to be the appeal to those interested in buying it, I believe. |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Well that's a matter of opinion isn't it? You may certainly think "nauseatingly cute" doesn't detract from the game but the reviewer evidently found it did. Hence, I'm not sure what the problem is with him using it as a negative. |
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Fencedude5609
Posts: 5088 |
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Its just really weird. I've read several Aquapazza reviews (though I have no real interest in the game. I don't get along well with fighters) and bizarrely, its only here on ANN that its "cuteness" is a problem. It just feels like desperately searching for one more bullet-point to put in the "con" column. Especially since that con is explicitly one of the selling points. It would be like reviewing a Call of Duty game and putting as a negative "Too much shooting for some people's taste" While thats undoubtedly true, it would be...weird to bring that up. |
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ikillchicken
Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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More like "Too drab and grim for some people's taste" which I hear constantly about Call of Duty. |
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Mr Adventure
 Posts: 1598 |
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Too much BROWN is a common CoD/AAA Game complaint. |
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Fencedude5609
Posts: 5088 |
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Mmmmm.... I'm not sure. Aquapazza really is "come for the cute girls, stay for the surprisingly good fighting mechanics" Like I said, it's just a very strange complaint in general, though well in tune with standard ANN biases, so not seeing a token complaint about it being cute or moe would also have been weird. |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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No. Not really. It's more like what Fence said. People play Call of Duty for the shooting. Whereas people will play Aquapazza for the characters. It's a given that a game that features Leaf/Aquaplus characters will have designs similar to the their sprites in the various VNs. Just like it's a given that a Call of Duty game will have shooting. |
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Juno016
Posts: 2381 |
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Exactly. I'd imagine that anyone who doesn't like moe-style cutesiness would've been turned off from buying the game in the first place. A complaint, like, "It's overly cute, as you'd expect from the concept/cover," would work quite naturally, but the way it was worded here almost made it seem like the reviewer was hoping for more and not getting more detracted from their experience, even though the game never advertised that it'd be more than what it was. Or maybe they thought it'd be "cutesy" and "moe," but they weren't as familiar with the source material behind the game and weren't prepared for it, so the scale of it magnified their surprise? I mean, I get that having more would be GREAT. And would boost the score for sure. Taking the emphasis off the cutesiness (without necessarily getting rid of the cutesiness) and shifting it to something new and exciting could easily make the title better. But so would adding a ton of awesome features that break the mold on the next Zelda game. And yet, they get great scores for doing just what it's advertised to do. The only big difference I see is that the Zelda game style appeals to more people than AquaPazza in the first place. I guess I'm just confused as to why the wording was the way it was in the review. |
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Mr Adventure
Posts: 1598 |
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Uh. Pretty sure people should want to play Aquapazza for the FIGHTING. Based on your anthology people would be playing Call of Duty for the grizzled soliders and weapons. Which, granted, they do. |
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Mr Adventure
Posts: 1598 |
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Skullgirls is another great fighting game who's art direction really over does it in the fanservice department. Tarnishing an otherwise well designed game with embarrassing male gaze.
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Hideki-Motosuwa
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In all honesty, I didn't expect much out of this review except I would have expect the reviewer to have done some research on the doujin fighting game scene. You come to expect this level of work on a fighting game that is centered around visual novel characters by developers whom only best selling franchise is a "all female cast" fighter. At any rate, this game was obviously a love letter to those whom remember the old doujin fighting game series called "The Queen of Heart" by Watanabe Seisakusyo (now known as Doujin Soft French-Bread).
Even when the game was first announced for arcades years back, I didn't have AAA expectations because of the source material and the developers background as I'm pretty sure many felt the same way. Saying that one of the drawbacks was that the game was "nauseatingly cute at times" is a piss poor excuse for a drawback. A game with Aquaplus/Leaf characters as its cast, how can you not expect cute things on this level with a mostly female cast from To Heart 2, Tears to Tiara, Utawarerumono, etc.!? It's not like they developers were trying to go for the hardcore fighting game community with this so who was expecting anything Arc System Works tier here? For a game that is paying homage to a doujin game, I think it has done a good job of it by being accessible and it's not overly complicated to pick up and play like anything from Arc System Works or Crapcom.....er, Capcom. Sorry, even though I will play Capcom games, I believe their crap and I am honestly tired of Street Fighter so Aquapazza is a nice change of pace for me. At any rate, take it for what it is and not what you thought it was going to be (probably have been better to have paid attention to the game more when it was played alot in arcades or when the JP release came out last year). |
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