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Re: Shira Oka demo

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 6:42 pm
by DaFool
Oh wow

(NSFW)
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/12/1 ... can-style/

To think that 5 years of effort and advertising (which should have been used to improve the art) was just dismissed like that.

The pressure's on now on 4LS to prove that gaijins don't suck. There's pretty much nothing else left as far as 'Great OELVN' goes.

Re: Shira Oka demo

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 8:23 pm
by okonomiyaki
That's what really gets me about this game. Five years of paying people and assuming that they had the spare cash of two full-time good paying jobs over that time at their disposal considering their marketing tactics...

It's almost like they were so focused on getting animation, an OP video (that is STILL pretty poor considering what you pay for the game), and telling people about the game and how special it is that they forgot the very essence of the visual novel...good visuals...good story...neither of which Shira Oka has. I bet if they completely cut the OP video (and did a basic 2-D moving image video), and the voice actors, they would've had plenty of money to have decent sprite work and background work, maybe even pay a writer to cut all the really bad cliches and make the idea somewhat new.

This game is a pretty clear example of bad money management.

Re: Shira Oka demo

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 8:34 pm
by papillon
The pressure's on now on 4LS to prove that gaijins don't suck. There's pretty much nothing else left as far as 'Great OELVN' goes.
Is it necessary to bash *all* people producing games like that? :)

(I cannot read the linked article, however, as SC are my sworn enemies blood feud to the point of death, darn near literally. At least, a large number of their commenters have *claimed* to want me literally dead, and the site management is proven outright liars. So not only would I suggest that people not take any 'news' or 'review' of theirs seriously, I'd strongly recommend you not visit the site at all. Not that I'm the boss of anyone, of course. :) )

Re: Shira Oka demo

Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 10:11 pm
by J. Datie
DaFool wrote:To think that 5 years of effort and advertising (which should have been used to improve the art) was just dismissed like that.
Of course! It doesn't even have sex! Good thing supermarket tabloid ace news site Sankaku Complex was there to reveal this vile fact. In the second sentence.

But seriously, I'd rather not link approval on Sankaku with quality. I haven't actually played it, so I don't know how good or bad it really is, but I just don't think "there doesnt even any sexing" should disqualify anything* from holding the title of "not sucking".
*Except maybe porn. Maybe.

Re: Shira Oka demo

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 4:12 am
by GLACIER
okonomiyaki wrote:That's what really gets me about this game. Five years of paying people and assuming that they had the spare cash of two full-time good paying jobs over that time at their disposal considering their marketing tactics...
Did they pay people through the entire five years? Development could well have stopped for months at a time (i.e. finished art, scripts, and music sitting around but nobody putting anything together), so it's impossible to say.

When a project languishes for so long, you kinda suspect that there may have been a lack of focus - in which case, just getting the game done would take precedence over how well the art and concept stack up.

Re: Shira Oka demo

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 12:18 pm
by Riviera
GLACIER wrote:I've completed the first year of game time so far, and my impression hasn't changed.

Stats still take too long to improve, and there are too many interruptions to the process. In a sim, the player needs ample opportunity to work on skills. However, much of the game time is depleted by various story scenes (i.e. during a five-day school week, two or three days may be wasted because of the decision to insert some boring event or character conversation. This happens on a regular basis), which makes the game pretty tedious and frustrating. I can't imagine replaying this and having to sit through those scenes again.

Some character builds also prevent you from doing well in the game, so be warned.
Ouch, really? I was hoping it was only the first part of the game (before that... event at the end of the demo) that had so many story events.

I love those events, but it kills me that it takes up the whole day and leaves no time for stat building.

I'll have to look up what character build to use, I guess. That sucks, too. :(

Re: Shira Oka demo

Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2010 1:56 pm
by okonomiyaki
GLACIER wrote: Did they pay people through the entire five years? Development could well have stopped for months at a time (i.e. finished art, scripts, and music sitting around but nobody putting anything together), so it's impossible to say.

When a project languishes for so long, you kinda suspect that there may have been a lack of focus - in which case, just getting the game done would take precedence over how well the art and concept stack up.
Even if they weren't paying people like, regularly throughout the five years, that's still five years they were working at their full time jobs. Sometimes games move slower so that the people paying for them can build up the money at their own jobs to pay for everything, which I assume probably accounted for at least some of the slow speed.

It's pretty clear that there was a lack of focus...on the game quality as opposed to "SHINY STUFF OTHER GAMES DON'T HAVE!", and way too much focus on telling people about it.

Re: Shira Oka demo

Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 6:36 am
by victorita9
Riviera wrote:
GLACIER wrote:I've completed the first year of game time so far, and my impression hasn't changed.

Stats still take too long to improve, and there are too many interruptions to the process. In a sim, the player needs ample opportunity to work on skills. However, much of the game time is depleted by various story scenes (i.e. during a five-day school week, two or three days may be wasted because of the decision to insert some boring event or character conversation. This happens on a regular basis), which makes the game pretty tedious and frustrating. I can't imagine replaying this and having to sit through those scenes again.

Some character builds also prevent you from doing well in the game, so be warned.
Ouch, really? I was hoping it was only the first part of the game (before that... event at the end of the demo) that had so many story events.

I love those events, but it kills me that it takes up the whole day and leaves no time for stat building.

I'll have to look up what character build to use, I guess. That sucks, too. :(
There's more than enough time to higher the states. You get three years. It's a good game.