TheKaizerreich
Since: Jan, 2015
11/14/2017 00:00:00
So you\'re complaining that a VN is a VN. Or that you couldn\'t find the \"auto\" button. Or that an eroge with a moe protagonist right on the cover has sex scenes involving this same moe protagonist. I\'m honestly a little perplexed that those are your complaints, with basicly no commentary on the story, how far you played and whether you enjoyed the dynamic between the two protagonists and their descend into madness and evil, or not. I mean, did you like it? Would you recommend it? I\'d really like to know.
YasminPerry
Since: May, 2015
11/14/2017 00:00:00
Lots of people don\'t like visual novel cliches though, me included. It\'s not unfair to point them out.
Leave a Comment:
I Shall Call this Review `Flesh Light`
Saya no Uta has been on my radar for a while now, often recommended to me by people who feel the need to defend the visual novel medium from my more common criticisms. Complaining about V Ns having too few or too arbitrary choices? Here's a game with only two! Don't like the one sentence on screen at a time format? This one has text filling the screen...(sorta)! Want something different from a sloppy, soppy porno? Try an Eldritch horror story porno! I finally gave in and tried it last week.
I can be a bit more generous than usual and say Saya No Uta is head and shoulders above many of the V Ns I’ve tried, but considering the competition, that is probably faint praise. The story is certainly a great deal more economic and a damn sight more interesting than the usual mopey slice of life, school setting scenario. We are immediately thrown into a bizarro hell world of pulsating flesh walls and monsters, and in the middle of it all is a girl who, besides being the only one not covered in teeth and horror tumours, is so obviously too-good-to-be-true the story doesn’t even bother to deny it. Good start.
Sadly, the trappings of the medium are still an issue. Whilst the text gets to occupy more of the screen, I am still having to click like a lunatic to get the words to appear quick enough to match my (not particularly quick) reading speed. Just put the whole damn paragraph up and spare my finger! Then there is the fact that this is a porno as well as a Cronenburg movie. At first it seems like an opportunity to match up some really disparate visuals (sexy vs disgust), only rather than do that, the game has a bunch of kidnap/rape scenes that I guess you are meant to be jacking off to. I’m sure this appeals to someone, but I found it unappealing and counter-productive (surely the worst thing porn can be). As usual with these things, the sex scenes feel redundant and clearly aren’t the focus, but they do hinder the enjoyment of the main plot. I think there is the option to turn these scenes off but having not done that, I can’t report on what effect this will have on the story.
My final thoughts are that Saya No Uta has some good ideas, but they are dampened by ill-fitting, perfunctory VN conventions. Tropes aren’t bad, but they should at least be in their right place. It’s a mixed experience.