The Dating Games: Episode 02: Rose of Winter

Whew! Dating games!

if these are the dating games they are going to play then I'm going to assume they wont be exploring the core of the VN genre afterall, bummer

Wow I wasn't sure of the format this was going to take but they really are just going to read through dating games. They should get acclaimed voice actor Dan Ryckert to guest star in an episode, that man if nothing else can deliver lines of dialog with ferocity and conviction I have never heard before.

The art style of this is pretty amazing.

Not a fan of this series. I don't hate VNs, but this format doesn't do them justice.

Considering @benpack is currently on the mend, is it safe to assume all the episodes of this segment has already been recorded?

So is this just going to be western VNs and super mainstream japanese ones? If so that's a huge bummer.

I preferred this format when it was just Abby with Vinny in the control room.

I like this way more than a single playthrough of one of the games, totally into it.

Wasn't sure with the first episode but this one knocked it out of the park, the game being cute helped too maybe. Little thirsty, but cute.

Big Ben and the Size Queen are on the case. Will they find a suitable lover this time ? Quench your thirst and find out.

PS. I want a Ben Pack DBZ re-dub

That's one way to put it!

In fairness, Clannad is REALLY long...

@dizzyhippos: Honestly I think this series would be better if they started like halfway through the games. Almost every VN has like 5 hours of boring setup before anything interesting happens, and them trying to figure out what the fuck is going on would be fun.

This one was really funny ( specially the steamy parts...). Ben was perfect casting and I liked Abby's "semi-southern" treatment for the main character.

It was nice to see a play through of at least one full story, so I'm really glad that the game's length was accommodating to the "one game a week" thing.

This was fun!

If you’re only planning on playing meme games and American-made Ren’py stuff, what’s even the point? Figured this series was made in response to the Dream Daddy “controversy” where Abby said the game was genre defying despite her never playing another VN, but all these games do is reinforce her opinion.

That doesn’t even factor in that visual novels are notorious for taking hours to get interesting, so playing the first hour of various games will do nothing but leave you bored. You wouldn’t just read the first fifteen pages of a book or watch the first five minutes of a movie before moving on to others books and movies, would you?

Sure, it’s nice that GB is trying something different for once, but at least put some effort into it. Do some research. Look at games that are widely respected, games that actually defined the genre. Don’t just browse Steam and grab meme games made for YouTube and ren’py games.

@trabuch: This was a recommendation they got from someone else. It's literally explained in the first few minutes of the video.

Which is why I said do some research. If they just play what’s recommended, they’ll just play Hatoful Boyfriend, Doki Doki, maybe Katawa Shoujo, and some steam ren’py games. Hardly respresentative of the genre.

@trabuch: You also said they "just browsed Steam and grabbed meme games". Which was just flat wrong.

You've assumed a huge amount as to their intentions here, when it very clearly is just a similar concept to Six Crazy Frights. They missed a bunch of notable titles there too, and they didn't finish any of the games they played (apart from P.T. but that's a demo). This is just a light-hearted, "quick look" at the genre. Look at the description to the right. It's not an academic analysis, or a full playthrough of VNs.

I just don't see the real problems people have with the series that is just meant to be just a bit of light-hearted fun. If people don't enjoy it, hey that's fine - but this is just a whole bunch of people saying "you're doing your series wrong". It's a little crazy.

I do not understand the appeal of this, as a series. I think there are a lot of ways VNs could make for something entertaining but these first two episodes are dull Let's Plays.

So it’s just a coincidence this feature was started right after she got complaints about her speaking so definitively about visual novels despite not playing any of them? If so, fine, whatever.

But if it was started to branch out and build up her knowledge, she’s doing herself a disservice by just playing random crap people recommend. All you have to do is watch any of the various GB streams where they play games people vote on to see what kind of crap people recommend.

love the series :)

I did some research myself, and Rose of Winter is very well regarded. Not only that, but Robaota, in an attempt to defend it early on ( probably because of last week's comments) kinda mentioned that it wasn't a full playthought, which is not true. It is a full path.

Just watch it yourself, it was quite fun. And I'm with you, looking at a story and only reading the first 15 pages is not that fun, but this is not the case. We'll not get the olden classics or the crazy ones just yet for this feature. But it's a good intro for folks that don't know much about it, that was probably the nature of the recommendation they got from people that know a lot more about it. ( Gita Jackson, in this case.)

Geegolly this is one of the funniest readings I've heard in a while. Abbys tsundere voice is great and I don't even know she knows the term, pretty talented if you ask me. I'm just half an hour in and already had a good laugh, thanks for that Ben and Abby.

These also make me wanna rewatch the Six Crazy Frights.

@trabuch: Given that they already played Hatoful Boyfriend this leaves up with even less options now, doesn't it?

I type it again, if people want to play Doki Doki and Katawa Shoujo they should just play them themselves or wait until some of the staff plays them on twitch or something and ask them on twitter if they're willing to do this.

I also would like for them to playthrough several 40-60 hour long Visual Novels (given that they're reading through the whole thing) but stuff like this is wishful thinking.

Also the Dream Daddy talk is done and dusted, its better to just enjoy the fun Visual Novels. This also includes Dream Daddy.

I love these types of games, but watching people do these voices the whole time is not very fun. This game is going on my wishlist though :)

This was the best

@ybbaaabby I would assume, given his title, that the reason Falkner is so small is that he's the prince of the faeries, but my guess is as good as anyone's.

So much potential for this feature... just needs some unique games and 100 PERCENT MORE VINCENT CARAVELLA!! Love me some Vinco.

This is a very entertaining video once again showing the strength of adding new voices to the Giant Bomb staff, making me eat my words about the new blood. The more they lean into their interests the stronger the content is.

I love the voice acting so much. I think the format is fine for a fun bit and that's why I'm here. I don't think this gives much perspective to VNs as a whole and I don't think they are claiming to.

A lot of people that seem to be well versed in the VN genre are posting some really dissmissive comments about this series and this game. But from whatching the video I really don't understand the criticism. The game has a good art style, is well written with a coherent sense of humour (even if a bit horny). The pacing of the playthrough is also perfect for the format of the series. All in all this game seems like a perfect fit for the series and might get new people into the VN genre. This series has atleast made me interested in looking into the longer and more in depth games that people talk so fondly about in the comments.

Criticism is good but there is no reason for it to have the tone that currently is present in this comment section.

Peace friends :)

I'll say I disagree with a lot of people here in the comments section. This is a great series to me and I also appreciate the format.

I probably wouldn't know about Rose of Winter and I'm glad this series is going to highlight some games I might have missed.

I'm pretty sure the only reason this is happening is because everyone kept on calling out Abby on not playing these type of games... which is a shitty reason to start playing these. Dislike.

As someone who hasn't played this type of game, Rose of Winter seems like it has a lot of heart. I also like that Abby and Ben did a complete "run" (feels like a weird term to use haha) so that I can get a good idea of what it's like. Hatoful was fun but it just sort of kept going.

I'm also thankful that Ben only had to do one voice this time, and the adlibbing by both was on point.

I'm continuing to love the VA performances from the Millennial Duo. Plus, this was a cute story, and well-suited to the format of the series.

Truly enjoyed this episode a lot. The game seems to fit the show format a lot better than the previous one, looking forward to what's coming next!

I enjoyed this video and if I didn't, I just wouldn't watch the next one...

This is a funny video. Some people really need to relax.

@jesus_phish: for a Man that watches wrestling a whole lot, a performance art if you will, it’s astounding how Dan reads out loud.

Amazing.

[edit] Kuya SUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKS.

This is an amazing series.

This series is no bueno.

Loving the series so far. Not surprising, yet totally shitty and unnecessary, that the Abby hate continues in the comment sections. Grow up and quit being sexist, and let her do her thing. Also don't remember them saying this feature was going to be a deep dive into the genre. This is a short exploration of a handful of dating VNs, just like Six Crazy Frights was a short exploration of a few horror games.

Dang! This looks like a fun game and you guys killed it. (OH NO. I read the comments. Killed it in that you both did a great job and made it fun to watch. Comments. Fuck.)

These are the saltiest comments! You all need to chill.

1) a sample size of two does not a result make

2) honestly kinda be glad you're getting any VN coverage at giant bomb at all because it never happened before?

Keep it up Ben and Abby! Kisses to all the lovers and all the haters!

They should just play the best visual novel/dating sim around

Persona 5