Reviews VisualNovel / Analogue A Hate Story

Controversial viewpoints aside, is it still worth $10?

How much value do you put in your money? I personally don't, so I suppose so. That's only the cost of a couple large bags of chips.

Like I said, you probably have to forge your own opinion of whether you not you got your money's worth rather than listening to me. People who hate it will hate it vehemently like I do, and people who like it will absolutely adore it. Surely, you'll be willing to gamble a mere $10 to see what happens.

I don't think that there was hatred for men in the game. Most of the men treated the women poorly, but all of the antagonists were just the product of a horrible culture. Hyun-ae hated them and said she couldn't forgive them, which is understandable, but I don't think that we're supposed to blindly hate them, considering the dialogue options that allow you to show pity for them. Besides, some of the men were decent, like the drunkard and the guy studying to become the next High Magistrate.

Whoops, pressed submit early. I think this is a case of Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped. Besides, Hyun-ae did find some reasons to smile for a while, such as spending time with the queen and having sex.

I agree with NG; Whilst we are obviously going to sympathise with Hyun-ae's perspective of this awful society, the game doesn't just expect you to hate the people. It's easy to feel sorry for *Mute and the others, especially as they clealyr know no better.

If I could offer any criticism of this game at all, it would be that the game requires you to remember an awful lot of characters, without giving you much to go on besides their names and letters. In sorry babe, you had little profile pics with each message, so as to help distinguish the characters. I think this needed something like that - perhaps unique handwriting or something - anything to help differentiate them.

I'm not sure this is a review. It reads like a repudiation, rather than a critique. You simply drop your own opinion that people should smile when they're oppressed, without actually pointing out why the game is wrong about it.

And frankly, I emphatically DO NOT believe people should smile when they're oppressed. You cannot help people if you refuse to acknowledge that they really are suffering and in pain, just as a doctor cannot cure a patient unless he correctly diagnoses what is wrong with her first, and if you tell them they actually have good lives and should smile about it. That is a patronizing, trivializing attitude.

This is probably a case where Reality Is Unrealistic. The society aboard the Mugunghwa is based off of Joseon-era Korea, so many of the cultural views and ignorance would not be unfamiliar to a present-day Korean, or even someone who watches some historical dramas. Some of the most hideous acts are anecdotal and probably don't need to be traced to an actual event, but the possibility that people actually believed what the antagonists in the games believed is not that slim.

Of course, what you seem to truly reject is the portrayal of men in this context, and that is something that I contest. If we are feeling less forgiving of these characters, then it's easy to show that many of the women in this story are just as despicable as their male counterparts. On the other hand, there are cases where some men are merely flawed, misguided but well-meaning, or even truly sympathetic. There is no mission here to show that somehow men were the sole reason for society's downfall.

If you haven't already, I suggest that you play through the game again, perhaps on *Mute's path. While she may be a bit prejudiced, the evidence she provides regarding some male characters may be enough to show the game isn't a man-hating diatribe disguised as a game.

I will agree however, that the game is rather densely packed with drama for its length. Along these lines, I would recommend that new players proceed with the understanding that the atmosphere will be darker than many visual novels (although there are MUCH darker ones out there).

Remember, this is NOT a dating sim, you are investigating a derelict and failed colony ship. The information you find is meant to help you understand why it failed in its voyage.

It just so happens that the A Is that are there to help you are cute anime-style avatars.

He didn't state this as a prescription, but as a description. Even people living in oppressive circumstances are generally not miserable full time. People joke about "first world problems" with the presumption that people living in underdeveloped countries must be so much more miserable, because their problems are so much bigger, but a lot of third world countries actually have more happy populaces.

Well, in the end, I got the Soundtrack edition last year for $6.49 during last year's Steam Summer Sale. I'd say it's about worth it, even though I haven't played much more than the first 30 minutes.

I was actually surprised that it isn't as misandristic as I thought it would be (even then, I wouldn't have thought that it's intentional. Christine Love certainly doesn't strike me as someone who hates men). It's severly lacking in sublty, but that's not so bad as it's not too in-your-face, even if Analogue can get a bit overly dramatic at times.

It's not hating men. And women aren't exactly angels in there either. If you seriously believe that... well, it says more about you than the game.