Gaming Journalism

[AnonymousFromThe Internet]

The devs should submit KS for review by major games journalists and reviewers. The hilarity of it all would be amazing if anyone actually took up the offer. "Hello, My name is Totalbiscuit and today I'm here to ask and answer one simple question, WTF is Katawa Shoujo." Also automatic 3.0 from IGN.

[Brogurt]

>KS devs have no money
>KS devs cannot pay for good scores
>KS gets bad reviews
>KS sells poorly
>4LS goes bankrupt

Yeah I don't see how this could end badly at all.

[G3n0c1de]

>KS sells poorly

I think making no profit off the game is kinda the point of making it free.

[Shades of Grey]

>KS devs have no money
>KS devs cannot pay for good scores
>KS gets bad reviews
>KS sells poorly
>4LS goes bankrupt

Net result, nothing at all. If, at worst, nothing is to be lost, then what is the harm? Financially speaking none, but there are some issues with asking mainstream game critics to review such a niche and easily misunderstood game. The problem negative publicity. If the reviewer were very close minded, and does not see past the sex with cripples part of the game, then all his/her followers will naturally think the same thing if they have no other source of information on the project. If the game were to be brought to the attention of an actual professional game critic, it would really have to be done carefully.

[Fishpick]

While I would be personally curious to read such a review, I'm not sure if it will do any good. It may only hurt the game's image. But, I could be wrong. And even if it gets a bad score, it may still boost it's audience. I mean, how many horribly reviewed movies went on to develop a cult following? Even if it gets a bad review, it would still introduce it to new people who wouldn't hear of it otherwise. Plus it's free, so only time would be wasted in downloading it and giving it a try. The more I think about it, the more I think it'll probably work out in their favour. The people reading the review are people who probably would never have heard of it, so if they don't try it out, no harm is made. And those who heard it from other sources (ie, the people here now) won't be swayed by it.

[G3n0c1de]

Fakku and Kotaku already seem to have good views of the demo. They'll probably do honest reviews. (If those places actually do reviews, I wouldn't really know.)

[Mirage_GSM]

Also, mainstream games journalists don't do reviews of Visual Novels...

[Rhaegar]

book reviewers seem more appropriate.

[Mercutio]

Fakku and Kotaku already seem to have good views of the demo. They'll probably do honest reviews. (If those places actually do reviews, I wouldn't really know.)

kotaku does reviews, they also do this thing where they get different people from their site to give a "yes" or "no' to the "should you buy this?" question. not that anyone's buying KS, but still. and yeah, kotaku did a couple articles on KS, I think one before the demo and one about the demo, so they'll probably cover the whole game.

I still want to see Yahtzee from Zero punctuation review KS.

[Limbless]

I'm surprised how thoroughly Brogurt's joke was missed...

But yeah. It's over, KS is finished.

[Panty Supervisor]

>4LS goes bankrupt

Shit! Everybody, sell your shares immediately!

[Fishpick]

Also, mainstream games journalists don't do reviews of Visual Novels...

It all depends on how you define game. A visual novel on a gaming console would get reviewed. Heavy Rain for the PS3 is also not much of a game. It's literally a more cinematic visual novel. Sort of a "choose your own adventure movie". But that got reviewed. Basically, as long as it has an interactive component (even if it's just making choices) it's considered a video game. And Katawa Shoujo falls in that category.

[Drkstrm]

Fakku and Kotaku already seem to have good views of the demo. They'll probably do honest reviews. (If those places actually do reviews, I wouldn't really know.)

kotaku does reviews, they also do this thing where they get different people from their site to give a "yes" or "no' to the "should you buy this?" question. not that anyone's buying KS, but still. and yeah, kotaku did a couple articles on KS, I think one before the demo and one about the demo, so they'll probably cover the whole game.

I still want to see Yahtzee from Zero punctuation review KS.

Kotaku did an article, though it was part of a monthly thing that "deals with the cultural issues surrounding games and gamers" rather than just about the game. Which is okay. It got something. If Kotaku does a "gut-check" for this, unless it's a no, they're idiots. Not because this is crap (because it isn't), but because it's basically to answer if you should buy it. And this is free. Unless there's some massive last-minute change and we're all charged £82 for this. Specifically £82 though. Anything more or less will make it not worth any kind of hassle.

And I doubt there'll be a Zero Punctuation for this. I don't think Yahtzee likes this kind of stuff.

[griffon8]

I still want to see Yahtzee from Zero punctuation review KS.

I doubt there'll be a Zero Punctuation for this. I don't think Yahtzee likes this kind of stuff.

But the whole reason to watch his reviews is for the things he hates…

[Jolon]

As I recall, he confessed to playing a few visual novels. Combined with the unusually pronounced Australian presence behind KS's development, perhaps he could consider it?

His hands are likely constrained by the fact that it's a job rather than just a hobby, but I think it'd be an amusing thing to see even so.