rionaleonhart | I Always Told You To Go To Hell.

keltena has made me aware of the Umineko Gold project to create an English audiobook of Umineko, and I desperately need this to happen for two reasons.

Reason one (the practical one): a lot of people aren't into visual novels, so it'd be really cool to have Umineko available in a more accessible format.

Reason two (the horrible one): they've released a trailer for the audiobook, which contains Battler's breakdown at the first twilight of the first episode (running from around the nine-minute mark to 14min 30sec - the link should lead to the right point), and holy crap, his voice acting is perfect. I was a little unsure earlier in the extract, when I first heard his regular speaking voice, but I was sold the second things got fucked up. I'm very fond of Battler, which of course means my favourite parts of Umineko are the parts where he's completely psychologically collapsing. It's possible that I'm Beatrice. Jessica is great as well. (Warning: they're reacting to the aftermath of horrific murders - said aftermath is not actually displayed on the screen but is described in some detail.)

I'm just really excited to hear more of Battler sobbing and hyperventilating. Please let this happen.

I thought I might as well check out the demo for Zanki Zero: Last Beginning, the latest from Spike Chunsoft. (The bizarrely long demo. It took me four hours to complete. I was half-wondering whether they'd accidentally put the whole game in there.)

Pros:
- concept seems interesting
- apparently you can make the characters bang in any combination in optional side scenes, i.e. exactly what I want from every videogame
- the characters say 'ow' whenever I accidentally walk them into walls, which I do constantly, and it's pretty funny
- pleasingly guilt-ridden cast
- the line 'I can't breathe with all the blood in my throat'

Cons:
- I hate the gameplay! There is not a single aspect of the gameplay that appeals to me. I don't want to worry about every character's hunger and thirst and age and stamina and bladder capacity; those are concerns for real life!

This is a real problem with videogames. It's possible for a game to have a story and characters you're interested in, and yet be completely unbearable to play. I suppose the equivalent for a book would be 'I like this concept, but I can't stand the writing style.' Maybe I'll check out a Let's Play, but I really don't think I can play this myself.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Let's play is very important-- if not for those-- I wouldn't know anything about Fire Emblem to be perfectly honest.

I like actually playing games if I can, but sometimes I just can't! I'm grateful to the people making them more accessible.

I know, also hurrah for with the era of 'let's play', they've made it less guilt to be honest! <3

- apparently you can make the characters bang in any combination in optional side scenes, i.e. exactly what I want from every videogame

Wow, it's like they know you!

- pleasingly guilt-ridden cast
- the line 'I can't breathe with all the blood in my throat'

Are you sure they don't actually know you?

I don't want to worry about every character's hunger and thirst and age and stamina and bladder capacity; those are concerns for real life!

Ugh, that sounds insufferable. Clearly they don't know you well enough.

I've been checking out Let's Play footage since making this entry, and at one point one of the characters says, 'I think... I love everyone here,' and I'm so unhappy that I hate the gameplay when this game is comically tailored to my id. Characters in love with everyone!

"So there's this game where one of the characters is in love with everyone else in the group."
"Yes?"
"And there are optional side scenes where any combination of characters can bang."
"Yes?"
"And the cast is full of people who are troubled by guilt."
"Yes?"
"And one of them has so much blood in his throat he's having trouble breathing."
"YES?!!!"
"And also you have to monitor half-a-dozen physical needs at all times, and devote a lot of of energy to things like whether they drank enough water."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

I was a little unsure earlier in the extract, when I first heard his regular speaking voice, but I was sold the second things got fucked up.

Yeah, same reaction here. His first line or two sounded kind of jarring and overly affected, but from the moment things got going he nailed it. I'm so excited to hear how he handles some of the other big Battler scenes. (Not to mention the voices of all the unannounced characters, especially Beato! I'm assuming/kind of hoping until proven otherwise that she's the narrator—Amber Lee Connor, iirc—but we won't know for sure until they manage to get the Kickstarter together...)

Video games you'd otherwise love with gameplay that's completely inaccessible to you are a special kind of frustration. I hope you can find some good LPs for this one, at least! (And this does sound endlessly entertaining: apparently you can make the characters bang in any combination in optional side scenes, i.e. exactly what I want from every videogame.)

I'm so excited to hear how he handles some of the other big Battler scenes.

Yes! I really want to hear him yell 'DON'T FUCK WITH ME' while crying.

I also assumed at first that the narrator would be Beato, but, come to think of it, it'd also make a lot of sense for her to be Featherine. (Maybe the narrators will switch?)

I've said before that I want Danganronpa V3's love hotel in everything, and I'm glad Spike Chunsoft, at least, has embraced the concept in further titles. I hope other companies do the same.

I'd never heard of Zanki Zero until this post, so I looked it up. It seems neat! I might add it to my list, though my backlog is so bloated right now... ehhhh.

I'm so not into the gameplay and so extremely into everything else! This is a disaster. I definitely want to experience the rest of it, one way or another, whether I'm actually playing it or not. If you do play it, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

I'll also be interested to see whether a fandom develops after the English release. The Danganronpa games developed substantial ficwriting fanbases before they were officially translated, but there doesn't seem to be any Zanki Zero fanfiction yet.

stop looking at me, Mr Jefferson

I'm kind of curious about the gameplay haha. I don't mind trying something new, though I'll prob wait for it to drop in price a bit. If I play it, I'll be sure to share some thoughts.

Do you think the anime had something to do with the ficwriting fanbase popping up?

I told u to submit ur fukin photo

It might be worth checking out the demo (which I think is available on PS4 and Steam); it contains the entire prologue and most of chapter one, so it's substantial enough to give a good idea of whether it's something that'll interest you.

People were definitely writing Danganronpa fics before the anime started; I'd written a few myself! And the early fics all used the conventions of orenronen's fan translation on the Something Awful forums (which was how I got into the series), so I suppose we can probably pin the early development of the fandom on that. (Now that I check, there are still a few people writing fic based on that translation nowadays, seven years later. It got so hugely popular that the Let's Play forum temporarily became members-only to make money off all the people signing up to read it.)

I decided I wanted to take another hand at drawing (not touched anything since my DRV3 art drawing… whoops), so was trying to think of something with simple enough art that I could attempt. Chose Umineko, as reading your thoughts on it has really cheered me up this year. So here, have some awful art of Beatrice and Battler (faces only, reference picture used, I can’t draw etc). Also, I own one rubber, which is pink, so whenever I use it it’s basically a massive mess. I guess I can get away with that slightly with Umineko art? Er, yes, the pink is totally not rubbing out, it’s where someone attempted to murder them! And their clothes. Clearly.

https://postimg.cc/QK99cdmQ
https://postimg.cc/f3RbxbTV

Even with a reference picture, Beatrice has ended up suffering from serious perspective problems. xD

-

Might have a look at Zanki Zero, though not sure the concept seems entirely for me. Sounds a bit like the Sims, to be honest, in keeping track of stats or DEATH?

-timydamonkey

I'm sorry I didn't reply to this earlier! I'm never sure whether to reply to your comments if I slip in replying for a few days, because you don't have an account and you won't get notified and maybe you won't see my response. But I love Beatrice's expression.

I don't think Zanki Zero is exactly Simslike. It's hard to explain, but the demo gives a good idea of how it works. I'm so sad I don't like the gameplay; it's so up my street in so many ways!

Hello! I normally do come back and look unless I totally forget that I posted a comment (which has happened, I'll admit!). So replying late is fine.

There are a lot of issues with that Beatrice picture, but I'm pleased with the expression. Battler's too, actually. It's funny - I feel the DRV3 art is better overall, more detailed and recognisable, but I was rubbish at the facial expressions. This is just the opposite. xD

Least there's Let's Plays!

Also, I can stop stalling with Assassin's Creed now as I've picked up the Assassin's Creed III Remaster (my PC isn't good enough to run it and I didn't have any other console it was on). I didn't want to skip past it as I figured it'd be confusing to go back. I'm on Revelations currently!

I Always Told You To Go To Hell.

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