LongStory Episode 1 Review

A few weeks ago, I tweeted on my efforts to be a bit more decent to people after I realized I had disagreed with a few jokes some family members tossed about during the Winter Olympics. Anyone who’s followed this website for long enough knows that I come from a very traditional Southern background, which means MORE than a healthy dose of that Old-Time religion. While I’m not going to bore everyone with exactly what I do and don’t believe, I hope my previous reviews have shown a decent effort to be fair regardless of my personal ideology.

Now, with that said, I think a blunt JP moment is in order to fit into that whole ‘fair’ thing, otherwise, people will wonder why the review is missing certain references. Longstory by Bloom Digital was created with very specific intentions and its creative team has not been shy about what they want the game to accomplish. In a brief description of a panel they ran at SXSW, the team describes their agenda;

“…By offering a story where queer is the new normal, we’re hoping to convince a generation of gamers that falling in love is fun, it’s liberating, and it can happen outside of the oppressive norms that cause people both children and adults to resort to sexual bullying.”

Now, show of hands; who thinks I care about any of that? No one? You guys know me well.

That isn’t to say that those aren’t legitimate issues. If you agree, I support your right to support any projects that addresses the same issues as LongStory does. However, when I play any game, its agenda isn’t my first concern. My concerns are the concerns I always have: story, presentation and ambition.

So, for those who expected this review to have a discussion on ‘queer-positivity’ in gaming, that’s the last time I mention it in my review. With that said, gather round as we go back into a setting I just love to discuss here on VNs Now: HIGH SCHOOL!

…yes I was being sarcastic…

Here’s The News! (02/09/2014)

Hey everyone, ready for some news and updates? No? Too bad.  Tired of pictures? Fine. How about a video for a change! There is a new trailer for Starswirl Academy, by Zap Apple Project.  A visual novel about students and their life at the prestigious Starswirl Academy.  Will they be able to find friendship and make it through the first year?

It was reissued after the team got a notice from Hasbro to change the names and other aspects of their project due to use of Hasbro’s My Little Pony property.  The trailer shows the new names, is voiced, and even has a short animated scene.  The demo was reissued as well and is also available for Windows, Android, Linux, and Mac.

Pyrite Heart Review

You’d think I would’ve found a more elegant way to go about this by now.

I’ve tried writing this intro three times now and I have yet to properly get across what I want to say. I don’t consider completely inept but this game just confounds me. I may not be, and may never be, a die-hard anime or manga fan and I am certainly not the target audience for 70% of visual novels, but in the same vein I like to think that we can all agree on some basics that have become the foundation of this very website. That foundation is what separates all fiction across all genres between good and bad; regardless of personal preferences.

Which brings me to Pyrite Heart.

Released within spitting distance of the celebration of the birth of Our Lord and Savior, Pyrite Heart is a title that is slowly infecting the larger EVN community. I’ve personally been flooded not only with requests to play the game, but also nominations for it in the 2013 Best Ofs with only a few days of exposure to its name. But popular response doesn’t answer the question that is the keystone of this site, ‘Is it good?’

Strap on a helmet amigos, because we’re not all making it back from this one.

You Asked For It: Starswirl Academy

…My Little Pony…I suppose it was inevitable, really. It really was only a matter of time before the MLP fandom began to encroach on visual novel territory. And to be fair, I don’t necessarily hate the show or the fandom around it. I am not necessarily a feminist (I prefer to call myself an Equalist), but I can recognize the outright aversion mass media has to treating young girls as anything but fodder for the next lifeless teen romance they can pump out. I’ll touch more on the subject whenever I discuss DC Entertainment and Cartoon Network’s continued drive to be crowned King of Douches, but for now just know that while I will never care for the show enough to invest an afternoon’s worth of time to watch, I am glad that young girls are getting the quality of writing and animation I used to get when I was a young boy.This brings me to ‘Bronies’.

Alta, Texas Review

….WHHHHHHHHHHHHY?!

I have literally just scaled K2! I have read an EVN that makes me question my philosophy on art itself! It was a masterpiece…WHY DID I DECIDE TO PLAY THIS AFTER CAVE! CAVE! DEUS VIDET!

SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH…Let’s just make this quick. Earlier this year I had the foresight to purchase several EVNs that had just been released. One was a remake of a 2006 freeware visual novel that had been titled Senior Year, but since has been re-branded Alta, Texas. So, what changes have been made to justify changing a free game to a commercial one?

Well let’s dive in and see shall we?