×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
GAME: Robotics;Notes: ELITE & DaSH (Double Pack)


Goto page 1, 2, 3  Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
CrypticPurpose



Joined: 15 Jan 2020
Posts: 320
PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 4:05 pm Reply with quote
Why would you ever have someone with a dislike of visual novels review them? That's like having me review the latest FIFA. Anyone looking for an opinion on it is going to want it to be from someone that at least enjoys that category of media, at a minimum.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
#918323



Joined: 05 Dec 2020
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 4:53 pm Reply with quote
Why would you go into a visual novel expecting gameplay? The name is just what you're gonna get: a visual novel.
No matter how you look at it, Robotics;Notes is on the top caliber of VNs. It's not often you get animation, hell, even full voicing in the first place, and the artwork that's used hasn't aged at all either. It has much more "gameplay" than the usual VN has. By the way, Danganronpa doesn't count, it's only half-VN, unlike these big boy full-VNs.

Oh, and talking about everything except the localization, one of the most important parts they got wrong... Kinda cringe.


Last edited by #918323 on Sat Dec 05, 2020 4:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
whiskeyii



Joined: 29 May 2013
Posts: 2242
PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 4:53 pm Reply with quote
CrypticPurpose wrote:
Why would you ever have someone with a dislike of visual novels review them? That's like having me review the latest FIFA. Anyone looking for an opinion on it is going to want it to be from someone that at least enjoys that category of media, at a minimum.


I think excellent visual novels (like 999) will always trump genre preferences, but it sounds like Robotic;Notes falls squarely into the category I’d place most VNs: between okay and good. I don’t think all VNs have to be sluggish even if they’re trying to establish an atmosphere of normalcy or whatever before the main plot kicks off, but I do find this is a tendency of a lot of them. And I think it’s that slow start that really turns off a lot of would-be players, gameplay elements notwithstanding. Truly, I think most if not all VNs would benefit from having some sort of hook happen at least 10 min in, if not sooner, but Robotic;Notes seems to be a little old school in its glacially slow burn approach.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
#918323



Joined: 05 Dec 2020
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 5:05 pm Reply with quote
whiskeyii wrote:
I think excellent visual novels (like 999) will always trump genre preferences


I dunno about that. Of all game genres, I believe VNs are probably one of the hardest to possibly get into, given how they're based around reading the entire time rather than actually "playing" anything.
I won't ever really play a puzzle game, as I find it quite boring. I'll play it and possibly have fun if it's combined with something else, like the puzzles in Uncharted 4 or Persona 5, but I won't really ever like that genre on its own. --I believe it's like that for most people who don't particularly like VNs.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
JGZinv



Joined: 03 Apr 2012
Posts: 13
PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 7:04 pm Reply with quote
How about it's connections with Steins:Gate? How about how it compares to the existing anime?

I'll echo what others have said, ANN needs to retask itself with using reviewers that either are neutral or at least aware/accepting of the content before of reviewing it. The vast majority of this review can be summed up as "not a good entry point to VNs" and "I was bored because it wasn't action anime" is how it comes off. The seasonal anime list falls prey to the same problem, let's have someone that hates moeblob review the new moeblob. Yes you get a "critical review" as some perspective I suppose, but it often ends up more damming than having any educational value.

Otherwise perhaps there needs to be some profiling system where the good, bad, and ugly, of a reviewer's tastes are listed and the general populace can look at that as surmise if they are more or less similar to their own. That way they can follow along someone with similar likes and dislikes. If you hate everything I like, I'm probably going to discount your review in the first place as not applicable to me.

And before you ask if that applies here, R;N would be a solid "couple neat ideas but it was just ok anime with a poorly executed finale" and I've played part of the S:G VNs and watched all that anime and sub content. So I'm not a R;N pulpit thumper.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
BlueAlf



Joined: 02 Jan 2017
Posts: 1493
PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 8:43 pm Reply with quote
I kinda get where the reviewer is coming from, but it is perplexing to assign someone who's not into VNs to review VNs. Even more when 'lack of gameplay' becomes discussion.

As for RN, I got the same impression as described by the reviewer from the anime awhile back. But isn't that because the Elite version of RN is actually an adaptation of the anime? I was looking forward to comparisons and differences with the original version of RN and was a bit disappointed it isn't discussed.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MagicPolly



Joined: 26 Nov 2020
Posts: 1568
PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 9:05 pm Reply with quote
BlueAlf wrote:
As for RN, I got the same impression as described by the reviewer from the anime awhile back. But isn't that because the Elite version of RN is actually an adaptation of the anime? I was looking forward to comparisons and differences with the original version of RN and was a bit disappointed it isn't discussed.

RN Elite isn't actually an adaptation of the anime like SG Elite is, I have no idea why they decided to call it that. It's just an improved version of the original RN. The differences are listed on the VNDB page.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
GNPixie



Joined: 25 Jul 2018
Posts: 293
PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 9:12 pm Reply with quote
MagicPolly wrote:

RN Elite isn't actually an adaptation of the anime like SG Elite is, I have no idea why they decided to call it that. It's just an improved version of the original RN. The differences are listed on the VNDB page.


R;N Elite predates the decision to use the anime-asthetic for Steins Gate Elite by years so technically, SG Elite's the odd one out.

But RN Elite is called Elite because it adds some new content versus the original release. The anime's a really iffy adaption overall. The game goes more in detail than the anime does. As someone who's favorite SciADV title is Robotics, its much more..slower and kind of meandaring compared to both Chaos Head and Steins Gate. It kind of feels unique in that regard.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
BlueAlf



Joined: 02 Jan 2017
Posts: 1493
PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2020 10:49 pm Reply with quote
@MagicPolly @GNPixie
Thanks for the clarification guys. I really assumed they named it Elite as a continuation to SG Elite. If you put RN in the context of other science adventure games, then yeah, it actually does stand out because of how different it is.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Lizuka



Joined: 27 Jul 2018
Posts: 257
PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 2:24 am Reply with quote
whiskeyii wrote:
I think excellent visual novels (like 999) will always trump genre preferences.

Honestly even as a fan of visual novels I found 999 to be really hard to initially get into. Eventually sunk my teeth into it and developed a love for it (though moreso Virtue's Last Reward), but it can be pretty tedious, between the rather constant, grinding exposition that a lot of the time isn't even especially relevant to anything and the decision to always do two escape rooms in a row in between lengthy conversation bits meaning both sides of the game can feel like they drag.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
Posts: 5886
PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 4:44 am Reply with quote
CrypticPurpose wrote:
Why would you ever have someone with a dislike of visual novels review them? That's like having me review the latest FIFA. Anyone looking for an opinion on it is going to want it to be from someone that at least enjoys that category of media, at a minimum.


It might be hard to believe this but you can have someone who ,dislike a genre or type of medium but can like at least one work or so within those mediums.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
invalidname
Contributor



Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2434
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 6:49 am Reply with quote
CrypticPurpose wrote:
Why would you ever have someone with a dislike of visual novels review them.

I can't think of anybody in ANN's stable of reviewers / writers / editors who's ever expressed an interest in or affection for visual novels. Maybe Jacob, way back when, but that's pretty much it. Even Heidi, the dedicated games writer, has noted her inability to get into them -- it's practically a running joke in TWIG (1, 2) that Muv-Luv will make some new announcements and she'll write "oh yeah, I should probably play that someday".

It's kind of like how there's also nobody who's sufficiently into mobage to write about them beyond launch/shutdown announcements, even though F/GO is one of the site's more reliable advertisers, and so many readers play it. And heaven help the site if they ever lose Theron, because he seems to be the most prodigious LN reader (particularly for some popular series like DanMachi), and the only writer on the site who'd engage with something like Interspecies Reviewers.

So yeah, maybe cast the freelancer net a little wider next time? Or bail on the VN space and leave it for sites that are more into that stuff. Not sure what the right call is here, but assigning VN reviews to writers who don't like VNs is probably not it.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
AnimeFlyz



Joined: 31 Aug 2015
Posts: 363
PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 11:59 am Reply with quote
invalidname wrote:
CrypticPurpose wrote:
Why would you ever have someone with a dislike of visual novels review them.

I can't think of anybody in ANN's stable of reviewers / writers / editors who's ever expressed an interest in or affection for visual novels.


Maybe thats a sign that they shouldn't have made a review in the first place?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Cardcaptor Takato



Joined: 27 Jan 2018
Posts: 4784
PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 12:02 pm Reply with quote
I'm not sure I understand why it's needed for someone to like something to review it. If you're only getting reviews from people who like everything they review, you're just creating an echo chamber and not an accurate view of how people who are not normally into these games should play them or not, which is the goal of a review to let consumers know if it's a product worth investing in or not, not simply to sing biased praises to the product. ANN also did a review of Robotics;Notes Dash a year ago and while he gave it a higher score, he still noted a lot of the same issues this review picked up on yet that review did not get as much backlash for some reason. animenewsnetwork.com/review/game/playstation-4/robotics-notes-dash/.147999
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Vanadise



Joined: 06 Apr 2015
Posts: 488
PostPosted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 12:29 pm Reply with quote
Cardcaptor Takato wrote:
I'm not sure I understand why it's needed for someone to like something to review it. If you're only getting reviews from people who like everything they review, you're just creating an echo chamber and not an accurate view of how people who are not normally into these games should play them or not

You're misunderstanding the complaint. The problem isn't that the reviewer didn't like this specific game, it's that they don't like visual novels in general. The target audience for this game is people who like visual novels. Getting a review from somebody who doesn't like the genre in the first place isn't helpful to anybody.

This is almost as disappointing as the time I read a review of Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth that was by somebody who both didn't like VNs and hadn't played the first two games in the series.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2, 3  Next
Page 1 of 3

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group