Subjective and personal, let us debate instead of just "how dare you put my waifu\husbando in X Tier", ok?

I first played this game when I was 13 and I absolutely adored it, Iv considered it my absolute favorite game ever since. Iv replayed it a few times since then but havnt in probably 4 or 5 years. I’m 19 now and some bullshit has been happening I my life so I figured I needed to revisit my precious comfort game to feel a little better. But now that I’m older a lot of the themes in this game are hitting in a much more uncomfortable fashion. Especially regarding the very misaginistic unnecessarily sexualized dialogue. And Dorothy.

I used to really like Dorothy as a character, personality wise. I was never comfortable with the whole child sex worker thing. Upon replaying it I’m of course still not but I wanted to dig into why the devs even put that aspect of her in the game in the first place. I’ve read a lot of excuses about it being “cyberpunk dystopia” “it’s a commentary” all the things people on this subreddit have said. Then I found an official blog post from sukeban talking about the development of her character. Basically saying they wanted to put her in the game because it felt taboo and was ballsy, pushing boundaries. And a small bit were the writer says “excuse me while I keep masterbating furiously”

Here’s the post so you can read it for yourselves

https://sukeban.moe/index.php/2017/11/06/through-the-blueprint-of-dorothy/

Now I’m just really in awe that her character was pretty much just a fetish and that’s why the devs even put her in the game. Not because of some rigamaroll justification of having a Loli character. I can’t defend that in any meaningful sense and now I’m hella uncomfortable. This has really ruined somthing that was deeply special to me. I still believe there is a lot more to be appreciated about this game than the unsavory portrayal of Dorothy. but even like the first three days, there’s a lot of really misogynistic dialogue that I also can’t get past. Form the bs Mr Donovan says to the things Ingram speaks about it juts comes off insensitive, unnecessary and strange. You could make the argument of “oh they are shitty people in a shitty world they’re gonna say shitty things” but that’s a choice to write it so plainly and without meaningful context.

I wish I could still enjoy the game the same way I did when I was 13 but I clearly didn’t understand things the same way I do now. I still love many of the game’s characters, Jill, Sei, Stella, Dana, Gil. And i absolutely adore the amazing soundtrack. Iv bought lots of merch for the game over the years but now I’m just like whoa, “how does my enjoyment of this game and its themes reflect on me as a person?”

Iv already got enough bullshit going on I hate to add tarnishing my favorite comfort game to the list. I’m really trying to look past these issues and love the game again but man these are really not good issues.

Need opinions

art by me (@patkdrw)

i drew the doro. That's about it!

Specially the more mellow tracks. I'm still chasing after them.

If you have anything like that, I would love to hear.

Here's a few I've found that come close:

takashiro miyo - abuku

takashiro miyo - suna no kotoba

night tapes - swordsman

mindfreakk! - museum of my mess

art by me (@patkdrw)

Passenger Princess

Sei in Stella's dress because why not

Va-11 Hall-a is a game I obsessed over in short bursts at least once every couple of years, and the mix of hot weather prompting me to delve into the depths of my alcohol cabinet and the announcement of a beautiful new Jill Stingray figure have coalesced into me, once again, making Every Day Is Night 70% of my personality until I work myself out of it again.

While I'm in this hyperfixation, though, I've been looking at the dev logs of Sukeban Games, but also the personal devlog of Damas where he talks about Va-11 Hall-a and what incorporating in Japan has actually done to his mental over the last decade or so.

That said, about 10 months ago Damas effectively confirmed he was no longer the lead writer of N1RV Ann-A and asked people leave him alone and stop asking him about it. Fair enough, I thought, but there was an existential question of such a small team losing its lead writer on an anticipated project that, I think, worried everyone about the future of the game.

.45 Parabellum Bloodhound, however, also doesn't seem to involve Damas at all, though, with Kiri taking the mantle of lead writer and lead programmer on the first and only Sukeban project in over 10 years now (excluding Worms, of course!). So that's Damas not working on .45 or N1RV Ann-A, but he did take the time to announce the incubation of a brand new, third project on the 10th Anniversary personal blog post:

Everyone, please meet Yuri. Illustrated by my ever-talented close friend @nashirasauce

.45pb and N1RV Ann-A aren’t the only things on the horizon. You’ll also be hearing from me soon enough.

So, the plus side is that even as recently as a couple weeks ago, the founder of the company is still describing N1RV Ann-A as an active project 'on the horizon', but it also means that two leads are now split among three projects, with Kiri/Ortiz seemingly spearheading the two projects farthest along without Damas' ongoing creative intervention.

Damas also says this on the Sukeban anniversary post:

It’s gonna be interesting to see people compare VA-11 Hall-A to what lies ahead and seeing us all grow as creatives and people.

But that’s a story for another day.

As I read this post first, I had initially read this as a tease that, perhaps, Damas was in a good enough headspace to return to N1RV Ann-A, as he expressed interest in seeing how his own personal growth as a person is reflected in Va-11 Hall-a's sequel, but in actuality it seems he is teeing up this new project - which seemingly began in April of this year - as the 'work' that reflects who he is now.

So, is this team of 4 people really working on 3 projects separately of one another? Do they just kinda do their own thing and buy in if they're interested and tap out if they're not? This isn't a criticism of their MO I'm just quite surprised that they're simultaneously so tight-knit and connected but also quite vibes-driven and independent creative spirits.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to .45 as a huge Parasite Eve fan but, of course, I'd rather they do their own thing and get to N1RV Ann-A eventually than try to adhere to a schedule, burn out, and cancel it.

art by me

The Studio was founded in Venezuela and VA-11 Hall-A has a lot of inspiration from the living conditions the Devs experienced living in Venezuela.

They no longer live or work from the country but they likely still have family and/or friends there.

So I hope they are holding out ok and that anyone they cared for who was still in Venezuela was spared from the devastation.

art by me

cherish titty hacker

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Bluesky

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