I don't really know what to say but, I finally met Noriko. If you haven't met her yet, don't worry about it. If you have, you know todays spoiler thing is gonna be special...
Marie IV
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... What even was the point of all this?
Honestly speaking (with the added infallibility of a year's worth of retrospective), there isn't a lot of "talent" in LiL that can't be found elsewhere. To compress an essay's worth of critique into a single sentence, I think a significant majority of LiL readers have been long exhausted with the writing of Selebus, and are exclusively—or at least mostly—invested in LiL for two sole reasons: the characters and the purpose of it all (the time loop overarching plotline). Beyond this, I would say very little matters.
It doesn't take an awe-inspiring amount of talent to drop a winning hook and spend actual years drawing it out while simultaneously bragging about the length, but not the efficiency of said story. I've joked about this before, where I wagered that Selebus could probably finish his game using ChatGPT AI writing prompts and nobody would notice. I understand why a lot of people are interested in LiL solely for the premise and character interactions, but beyond that, a lot more people are simply bored of LiL's writing and gameplay loop, and just want to know how it all ends for their favorite girls (or Gods). I wouldn't call that talented per-se, maybe closer to a passionate one-trick pony type of deal.
For as many downloads of LiL itself, it seems there is a large rate of URM, progress mod, guide mod, etc., downloads just as well, since they are basically considered essential to filtering out the boring elements of LiL, which just so happen to be most of it. Maybe URM should setup one of those 'affiliate link' programs with Selebus considering how much traffic must be going between them /s.
As for his last New Years memorandum or whatever, he should revise and rewrite this one! I'd say his writing here could use a little work, definitely not as talented as his character writing. Still, very passionate though! Would love a sequel!
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I'm not sure it will help anything, but I feel like the frequent nods to spring are more relevant than we realize. I admit this a very simplistic take but springtime is associated with sexual/romantic exploration ("springtime of our youth", spring break/Girls gone Wild). I think the inconsistent characterization and irrational sequences that bring about multi-partner sexual encounters are intentionally contrived and awkward at times, because supernatural forces are imposing imperfect influence on the characters to change their behavior.
I don't really have a lot of evidence to support this on hand but it FEELS right. In other words, if Sel has to solve for orgy, leaning into spring and it's symbolism in poetry/culture seems like a perfectly sensible way to do it.
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psychotomimetic
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- Mar 26, 2022
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LiL has some fantastic writing, i dont know what youre on about. if you happen to have an absolute goldmine of things close to the quality of LiL, i'd love to see it.... What even was the point of all this?
Honestly speaking (with the added infallibility of a year's worth of retrospective), there isn't a lot of "talent" in LiL that can't be found elsewhere. To compress an essay's worth of critique into a single sentence, I think a significant majority of LiL readers have been long exhausted with the writing of Selebus, and are exclusively—or at least mostly—invested in LiL for two sole reasons: the characters and the purpose of it all (the time loop overarching plotline). Beyond this, I would say very little matters.
It doesn't take an awe-inspiring amount of talent to drop a winning hook and spend actual years drawing it out while simultaneously bragging about the length, but not the efficiency of said story. I've joked about this before, where I wagered that Selebus could probably finish his game using ChatGPT AI writing prompts and nobody would notice. I understand why a lot of people are interested in LiL solely for the premise and character interactions, but beyond that, a lot more people are simply bored of LiL's writing and gameplay loop, and just want to know how it all ends for their favorite girls (or Gods). I wouldn't call that talented per-se, maybe closer to a passionate one-trick pony type of deal.
For as many downloads of LiL itself, it seems there is a large rate of URM, progress mod, guide mod, etc., downloads just as well, since they are basically considered essential to filtering out the boring elements of LiL, which just so happen to be most of it. Maybe URM should setup one of those 'affiliate link' programs with Selebus considering how much traffic must be going between them /s.
As for his last New Years memorandum or whatever, he should revise and rewrite this one! I'd say his writing here could use a little work, definitely not as talented as his character writing. Still, very passionate though! Would love a sequel!
fact of the matter is, it does actually take a lot of talent to write something like this. even thinking that AI could come remotely close to this honestly says more about you than anything.
love him or hate him, selebus is a good writer, i'll give you that he is not a good game designer per se. luckily im not here to play a fun and engaging game, i just like the story.
I'd say he's great at character writing. This does take some talent. But a lot of the rest is heavily reliant on minimal information, leaving the audience to speculate (which he seems to get mad about?). And the massive crutch of using deliberately opaque writing. Phrasing things in weird, murky ways is interesting in small doses, in large doses the sheen wears off and it just comes off as pretentious.
If you strip all of the strange phrasing and and visuals away, the resulting story is extremely basic, if dark, propping up a well written though immoral slice of life.
If you strip all of the strange phrasing and and visuals away, the resulting story is extremely basic, if dark, propping up a well written though immoral slice of life.
On a meta level, you can only be exhausted with Selebus' writing and still be invested in the story and characters if what you like is the idea behind the story or the characters. The execution is too tied to Selebus' writing. Being exhausted with Selebus, tho, is a different matter.
If it's the case where what you like is only the idea, there's a multitude of LiL "clones" to choose depending on how close to the LiL idea you want to be, and in each of those, you can see the quality is VERY different compared to LiL (not being too critical on SOME of those, LiL just set the goal too high, the few of them I chose to read have all my love). Like it or not, Selebus' way of telling the story is what has kept this going on despite Selebus.
Or, if you want.
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As pretentious as this may sound, the story that is being told through LiL needs the drawing out, otherwise it's efficiency WILL suffer. It'd just feel like a disturbing apologetic piece, or worse, something that even with a thorough reading feels like it's just throwing shit to the wall for mere shock value. Only actual critic would be to the sandbox model, though even there the generic events flesh out stuff.
EDIT: And, as mentioned in the post above mine, the basic idea is that, basic, but LiL has been kept afloat because of the execution of said idea.
Snakk
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- May 11, 2021
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and
Hey, sorry if I missed something or misinterpreted or someone has already said it as I didn't read the following four pages yet.
A thought occurred: since it is alt Maya that gives the scarf to Ayane as a way to make her other self remember - utilizing the theory about Himawari delivering it back to her - after receiving it back in ch1 she realizes she had been reset at some point in the future, and that a different her may get such an idea (giving it back to her) or alternatively: that different her was actually her-her; that timeline was in fact original Maya's past - she remembers giving it to Ayane after being told that she was reset(?). Perhaps it might be the very origin of the green scarf.
And another loose thought: the fact that the other scarf in the store is a darker shade of green may indicate that the other was brought from a different timeline/the future and its colour has faded due to its age; that both are actually the same one scarf, on the account of Himawari traveling through space and time.
Marie IV
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"Artists are the gatekeepers of truth."
Contextualizing this, it was a joke I made off of a pivot that a fundamental problem with LiL is that nothing conclusive ever happens. Nobody knows if there are plotholes in LiL because nothing ever happens for sure. You can call that a strength if you like, but myself and others would call that a cop-out and a bad one at that. I would prefer LiL greatly if it progressed a bit faster than years at a time.
I'm not sure what my comment about AI says about myself, when AI is already well capable of writing convincing novels and movies at this time. I don't think writing character interactions is especially talented or troublesome for AI with some human revision. Maybe self-reflection is due for everyone.
I acknowledge that and would clarify that I'm exclusively exhausted with the writing. That was meant to be more of a harsh literary assessment than one of Selebus' character since ultimately that's what I marginally care about, and I don't mean to diminish anyone who has enjoyed LiL through and through. To say the bar is too high is a fair counter and a real bias readers may have. While I agree that there isn't a lot like LiL, that however doesn't make me any less bored of it. And in jest, I have would appreciated an actual summary too, as I haven't considered LiL worth reading for a while. By doing so it may just put into perspective how little has actually happened in the context of years, which I know is a harsh thing to say once things seem to be progressing now, but that wasn't the case for very long, and what I would say, is an uncessary amount of time spent on filler. I'm not excited for another beach party, reset minigame, or dorm war.
Day 21 character count 12904.
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Detective Dc345
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psychotomimetic
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i'd say it's pretty hard to judge this when the game is not finished. im sure most shows worth watching have many unresolved plotlines if they were only watched 1/3 or halfway through.
and no, AI is absolutely not close to producing anything like this. it can spit out meaningless, generic and copy-pasted drivel endlessly, because it does in fact not generate, and it is not intelligent. it just roughly reproduces what has already been made.
Marie IV
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Right, of course, LiL succeeds in "keeping going" and being "kept afloat", but—hear me out— it doesn't need to:
It is okay for works of art to end. A fundamental problem Selebus has though, is that it seems like he is doing everything possible to make sure that doesn't happen. This seems to manifest in vagueness, overabundance of literary nonsense, and inaction. There are many external factors to this of course, one could say if LiL ends, so does Selebus' ability to buy food, but being generous in putting that aside, the simplicity of saying LiL is the longest visual novel in existance is not inherently a good thing. Why does LiL need to be this grand unending concept which is applauded for its length; a concept that is not inherently good or bad? It seems to be a far too influencing factor in LiL as a corporate, and this has for sure affected the exhasting writing greatly. This results in the oppressing critique, which I am voicing, just far more harshly than how Ma1phas has addressed it:
Moonflare
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Himawari is Ami intensifies.
Riolol
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Detective Dc345
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fdsasdf_p
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YAAAAS my favorite cyclops is returning! I honestly hope this overall style would stay...
I found myself losing major interests in Ch4 Sana. I probably am on the same with Sensei when he said he wanted Sana to stay smol, innocent, and timid forever so Sensei can keep prodding her for fun. But instead of keeping acting like an adorable hamster, half of the time Sana in Ch4 feels like a cute but mildly creepy Gollum, and I blame her revealing her second eye for it for whatever reason I may have.
Moonflare
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Marie IV
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I respect your assessment. LiL should've been finished ages ago.
