Update Two Hundred and Eighty-Eight: 5 March 2019
BAPTISM
2.8 hours playtime, ~.5 hrs actual, No achievements
4.5/10
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
I guess I’m early spring cleaning all of the micro VNs in my backlog that are about as good as they are long (AKA: not very).
BAPTISM was definitely promising, with its striking art style and its handling of religious themes (both of which reminded me of We Know the Devil.) Unfortunately, the game is just… things happen. More things happen. Things happen. The end. Why? Fuck you is why. All set up, zero payoff.
I think the issue I’m running into over and over again is that writing a short VN needs the same skills writing a short story does, and what makes a great short story is shit like tackling huge concepts and giving only the faintest brush so the reader is left chewing on it, engaging with it long after the story is over. It needs strong images and themes, to set up the question of the piece and the answer of the piece starkly for the reader to wrestle with, to get in and get out with something to say that echoes once it’s gone. The several short VNs I’ve read just is completely lacking in that kind of finesse, and it makes me sad.
Next up: Two black and white games in a row? Well, at least Fumiko! is colorful enough for the both of them—
See you soon!
No eyes again?
HA! That is funny that it’s a recurring theme, isn’t it? Two in a row is strange!
Its just boosting your stats for you thats why you getting them all. What are you even using for the picking anyway?
Mostly, yeah, though no-achievement VNs like this and Voices from the Sea just seemed interesting.
I’m using a spreadsheet I maintain and good ol’ random.org to pick what VN I play.
Oh, simple enough. Never tried random stuff so was excepting something something different