Archive

Archive for May, 2008

Kana: Imouto~

May 31st, 2008

I’m going to talk to you about Kana: Little sister today. I haven’t played it again yet, though I’ve been planning to for several weeks. What I’m hoping to do at this point is convey to you why i like it so much.

Kana: Little Sister is one of the games that I personally would place at the top ten. It’s just me and my opinion, though, so don’t come yelling if it doesn’t do anything for you. It’s lonely at the top, though. The games that I love the most get played the least because good things should be savored. For me, if I read a book, listen to a song, play a game, whatever, it’s in my head for good. It loses it’s impact if it’s played over and over. 

I’ve played through Kana: Imouto twice now. Both times I’ve tried for and recieved different endings, and yet both times I feel as though I’ve really earned both of them. I don’t know why, but Kana sends a big, sweet, sticky moe-bullet through the cold machinery of my cynic’s heart. The protagonist is someone I can relate to. In almost every scene, there’s some aspect that I couldn’t help and nod and say, “Yeah, that’s pretty reasonable.” Of course there’s times when he’s just like me, he’s a dick, a bit cruel, whatever and i can’t help but think, “man, you’re such a dick.” There are times when he’s just a moron, but you can file that under being socially underdeveloped, and emotionally awkward. I used to be like that too, albeit in junior high.

But in conclusion, the protagonist is somoene I can relate with on some level or another. Kana herself is a sweet girl, albeit a total moe-blob. I didn’t really get a feel for her personality until I had cleared my first ending, and by then i was a blubbery heap of tears, which brings me to my conclusion: Kana Imouto is a great game, it invokes a broad spectrum of emotions. I laughed. I cried. I facepalmed. At one point in the ending I got I got up, yelling “What the fuck? No fucking way!”, forgetting in my rage that it was in the early hours of the morning and my roommates were fast asleep. i love the game because I connect with it on that level. It invokes those emotions. (Well, that and the moe factor from Kana) It’s also why i hate playing the game; going through the spectrum of emotions like that is exhausting.

Adult Games, Games, Japanese Games, Rant

Hitomi, My Stepsister~

May 23rd, 2008

When I’m not out terrorizing the local Christian community with the blatant contradictions, total lack of verifiable and empirical information, hypocracies, and failures of their church or bemoaning the state of the U.S. Government and how I have observed that it has failed us, or buying all sorts of weeaboo paraphenelia, I’m playing ren’ai or dating sim games.

This time around, it’s Hitomi My Stepsister.

So, I finished played Hitomi on the premise that it would entertain me without being the trainwreck that ultimately is Kana: Imouto. Full completed Hitomi and I wish I got my hours back. It’s terrible. Not because it’s pretty standard fare for a professionally translated game (read: typical eroge) but because the plot is trite, cliched and you don’t get a clear idea of the protagonist and really, the girls’ personalities are two-dimensional excuses. They could have put more effort into it. Yoko could have been a more fleshed-out yandere, Yuki could have been a braincase as evidenced by her appetites, and Hitomi? Hell, Hitomi could hvae been done a fuckton of a lot better. The problem was there was a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. In fact, if there were any answers, it was at best a very haphazard and backhanded sort of answer. Why did Yoko flip out the way she did? Why was Hitomi wont to regress to a childlike state? Why did Yuki have her appetites? Why was she emotionally distant? Why was Hitomi timid? Very haphazard, very unfinished. it probably could have been EPIC.

OTOH, I suppose I’ve been spoiled when it comes to “broken girls” in the typical ren’ai game; I mean come on, what could possibly compare to the broken girl than Kohaku? I’ve gotta be a lot more careful in picking the games I play ;_;

To give you an idea of Hitomi, I give you the Invisible Windtunnel.

Adult Games, Games, Japanese Games, Rant

For the Record~

May 23rd, 2008

For the record:

I love to drink beer. It’s so tasty. Not a fan of the pilsners, but ale, amber, stout, and a couple lagers (though IIRC, pilsners fall under the lager category) are always fucking tasty.

When you drink a beer, think fondly of me~

Also, if you hate beer, you’re stupid, your parents were stupid, and your children will be stupid.

Dissertation, Imported piece, Rant

On Democracy, Two~

May 8th, 2008

I was listening to the radio here a while back, and this blurb came on over the station: “Democracy only fails when every voice is not heard”. implying, of course, that everyone should raise their voice and be heard.
A great idea and a noble one, to boot. However please refer to my earlier post on democracy and robots.

An Allegory:

Democracy is a society of robots. The robots all know pretty much how they should be governed, since they’re all robots. However, since they’re robots, they’re not terribly bright, and when it comes time for election, they elect for themselves a ruler. Not a robot, but instead, an iguana.

That’s democracy. Thanks for playing.

This tells us something crucial: That no matter how much the robots want to be heard, the iguanas won’t listen, understand, or even care. For fuck’s sake, they’re iguanas. why should they care about individual robot needs?
That’s democracy. Thanks for playing!

Furthermore, if one were to take it one step further one might see an amazing alteration in the U.S. Government and how our Iguanas are voted into office. the iguanas aren’t voted in by the robots. In fact, there’s a lengthy process that actually determines our iguanas and here’s the secret, the robots aren’t involved at all.

First, the robots elect several iguana to represent their state. This group of iguana then decide to elect another iguana with or without the robot’s permission. This new iguana’s responsibility isn’t towards the robots, but instead to voting in the Head Iguana, or President. For the sake of clarity we’ll call him the Purple iguana. So all the robots believe that they are in fact voting for the Head Iguana, but they’re not. What’s supposed to happen (theoretically) is the majority of the robot’s votes are tallied and the Purple Iguana then casts his vote for the Head Iguana the robots want most. In reality, what happens is the Purple Iguana is not beholden to the robots votes at all, so if the Robots vote for Head Iguana Candidate A, but the Purple Iguana is preferential to Head Iguana Candidate C, he then votes for Head Iguana Candidate C.

That’s right, the Purple Iguana Committee removes the functional votes of the Robots. What you then have is Iguanas that vote for Iguanas and the robots have no say in the Head Iguana vote at all.

That’s U.S. Democracy, thanks for playing.

Dissertation, Rant