Mirage_GSM wrote:Well, I am quite confident in my ability to understand intricate VNs, and I've read enough... well not so many VNs but enough stories to "put them into proper perspective". Anyway that comment was more of a general nature and not aimed at any VN in particular.
Regarding the rest... I'm sorry, but I simply can't relate to your complaints about the cast. I liked every one of them, so let's just agree to disagree here.
Confidence comes from ignorance, you don't know what you can do until you know what you can't do, and for that the human lifetime simply isn't enough
Don't get me wrong though, being confident doesn't make you an idiot, it just makes you that much more likely to be wrong. Thinking you're right isn't that bad, knowing you're right is much better though
I realize what I'm saying here might sound incredibly offensive but be assured that I mean no offense, just painting a little perspective here, feel free to prove me wrong
The fact that you can't relate to my complaints about the cast just shows that people have different tastes, I prefer characters to have a clear purpose, a goal they are working towards over the course of the story and the protagonist of ever 17 utterly lacks that, to me a good story includes telling the audience what the character will do once you stop reading the story, when the adversity the character has to overcome ends, to me, ever 17 never got to that point before boring me too much (the problem was more important than the characters, they simply had no existence outside of the problem scenario the story took part in)
In the end, I read a story for the characters, not the events, which is why knowing the end of a story doesn't ruin it for me in any way (I tend to predict it before I'm halfway through the story anyway, assuming the story is at least consistent with itself and doesn't pull too many deus ex's) part of what made muv luv such a good story to me is the fact that all the characters had a goal, a reason to exist outside of the story, they were going to do things even after the story ends, the problem wasn't what made them, it was an obstacle they had to overcome in order to get back to working on what was important to them which made them much more believable
The issue with a story that revolves around a problem is that it only has two possible endings and how they get to that ending is irrelevant, the characters will either win or lose, and thats the end of it, its a type of story that requires no thought or interpretation, and you wont miss much if you just skip to the ending
A story that revolves around the characters is different in that in doesn't matter what the resolution to the problem is (winning or losing isn't the most important thing per se) it matters how the problem is resolved which leads to much more intricate storytelling and a much more immersive and engaging experience
Anyway, I'll stop now before this gets too long, you're probably not here to read me rambling, though I'm certainly up for more discussion if so desired
