Re: [SMAVERICK] (RJ196617) Virus Z 2
I personally don't see the problem with "stealing" content when it comes to h-games. Especially the source is not an h-game. Isn't that the entire point of erotic doujinshi and fanart?
I can understand the hate for copying from the previous game since it's from another h-game. But it still used a different art style and the PiC dev pretty much disappeared at this point so it could be seen as a homage or parody to it.
Now don't get me wrong, i'm not trying to defend the fact that SMAVERICK just rips things off, but is it wrong to hate something because it was imitated? Is Fanart and "original characters" that take 90% of X source material a problem? Not really.
The difference between comiket doujins and Virus Z (and) specifically for intent. Borrowing from other source material is perfectly fine, when it presents itself as such. Fan art doesn't say "our character has blue hair, so we're
completely different from this other thing that came out before us".
I'm not sure if I can really hate on the blatant plagiarism-- while it bothers me that SMAVERICK copies stuff, if you look at it in another perspective, it may help you a bit. Say you're a fan of Mai Shiranui, or at least, her standing pose in this case. What if her appearance doesn't really suit your fancy, but and you prefer an even more scantily-clad lady with black hair? Whoever this nameless heroine is, she fulfills that very purpose.
I won't disagree that there is a niche for that, but I will dispute this being a legitimate selling point.
Of course people also consider it lazy which I can't really refute. But personally I'm fine with developers taking what's already been made for gameplay if it lets them focus more on h-content. No need to re-invent the wheel every time just to show some porn to people.
There isn't anything wrong with that, given how Jungle Girl -> Demon Girl and Kooooonsoft in general, but if they're going to imitate other games, they can at least imitate a non-shitty gallery mode. That's what really bothered me, if you're going to borrow things from another game, the least you can do is not imitate the bad parts. Small frustrations represent how much care is put into the product, big lapses in judgment show how little effort was spent in the design.
Also, that dark flashing for a cumshot? Internal for the slime CG isn't even green? Same sound effects? Those take lazy to a whole new level. Maybe the inevitable next installment won't be as bad, but there's such an ample space to expand into that's just being wasted.
Despite how "bad" people claim Virus Z/Z2 to be, i've probably played trashier ACT games, so this is a pretty big step up from other such games of the same ilk.
...
Just appreciate this for what it is, and say to yourself... "This is a better ACT game than some of the bags of steaming, fresh shit that have come out recently."
Worse games don't excuse bad games, and the fact that there are much better games made much earlier shows how this isn't a big deal. I don't think it's the fault of Unity as an engine (lower barrier of entry?), but almost every recent H-game made in Unity has been worse than older ones in Flash or Multimedia Fusion.
- Alchemist Girl Annette? Kooooonsoft with worse mechanics and way worse work ethic.
- I've Got To Get Away? Literally Demon Girl except somehow less functional.
- Anti-Demon Fox Yuzuha? I'm not really sure but that was a load of awful.
On a gameplay note, someone earlier in the thread stated that the katana is useless.
It really isn't.
You gotta get used to the positioning of the katana to make it work. The main idea of using the katana is to chip away at enemies first using silver or copper shuriken, then finishing the enemy off with the katana.
It's a weak system. You have to get in so close that you have to make a kill to make it worthwhile, so that means plinking them until you can make a single shot with the sword, with the wild RNG swing it has. The higher tier shuriken are so strong that you might as well use them every time. The later rounds give enough money that it doesn't matter. It's a system that punishes the player for not knowing how to use it perfectly, and then offers a different system that circumvents it entirely.
Ultimately it's the big "meh" attitude that consumers have which incentivizes copying and leeching. The mediocre stifles out high-quality content, which is also why Samurai Sacrament isn't as popular as it deserves to be.
