Steins;Gate is a bit of a weird game to discuss. I expected it to be hard to talk about, but it ended up being pretty easy. It's not a very complicated story with not very complicated characters. It goes through most of the motions that I "expect" from lots of the top popular works across the weeb shit universe. In a lot of ways, Steins;Gate to me is Fullmetal Alchemist as Fullmetal Alchemist is Steins;Gate. They have similar "vibes" but I can't necessarily describe what makes them so similar despite being so clearly different. This isn't a bad thing, actually, I enjoy them both quite a bit.
My history with Steins;Gate is troubled, so my experience with the game would be surely biased. The memories of the original anime and the first couple chapters that I read with a friend have been permanently ingrained into my mind, so much so that almost a decade later they haven't left their place whatsoever. Going into this game, I expected to have forgotten a lot. I was both wrong and right. The specific details remained unknown, but the plot points and general motions were all expected. Most of the plot twists and developments were not surprising to me, though this gave me the unique ability of foresight. I could see the foreshadowing and how clean the beginning of the game was without any troubles, making me appreciate them a bit more than I normally would. Now, even despite this, I still consider the first three chapters to be quite slow. The game doesn't really start until chapter four. This may not seem like an issue at first glance, but what this means is that in the first three chapters you're dumped with tons of info not presented in an entertaining way. It chooses the path of least resistence, where the introductions are gotten out of the way first, and then it runs with the plot. It doesn't integrate them into the plot as that would be too complicated. It doesn't choose to leave people shrouded in mystery as that would be too complicated. This is a running theme throughout Steins;Gate: oversimplification.
That may not seem like a particularly bad thing, and in the grand scheme of things if you're trying to capture a more mainstream audience, it's exactly what you want. Complication is but a filter to the minds of the populace. The simpler it is, the better; the more depth, the less entertaining. Frankly, I don't buy this, but it's an almost proven formula. If depth has to be introduced, then let it be completely optional; something that the average reader shouldn't touch, and only the dedicated readers must. So all of the in-between parts, and the general intrigue left out of the game is left to the side material. The side material is fucking amazing, I think most Steins;Gate fans will testify for this fact; but I don't think it's fair to leave almost crucial elements out of the game, especially when the content that was left out is better than some that was left in.
Take, for example, the Gamma worldline Drama CD. Contained within is a story about Moeka, one that develops her character further, and to the reader makes her even more sympathetic. Now consider chapters seven, eight, and nine. The former two focus on the other side heroines, and they even have their own routes to boot. But chapter nine is conveniently missing that. While Moeka is present, she's mostly left to the side; the reader isn't let in into most of her inner workings, and her backstory is still blank, except for bits and pieces. Without Gamma, Moeka is much too one-dimensional. She's used as a plot device and left to the side. It's almost as if, when the writer reached that point in the game, he decided that he had had enough of the side heroines, and cast them to the side in favor of finishing the main plot once and for all.
But it's not only Moeka: Kurisu, Mr. Braun, and Suzuha all seemingly get left out. I wasn't even properly sold on the former two until I read the side material. They gave a more introspective outlook on the both of them, giving me the depth of character that I needed. It's criminal. A lot of this, of course, has to do with the game sticking to a first-person narrative through the eyes of Okabe only. The side material changes the perspective to the respective characters, so it's expected that they would get more than from the eyes of someone else. At the same time, though, I see no reason why some of the slice of life scenes present throughout the game couldn't have held at least part of this introspection. Make the characters open up more, let them be more vulnerable. I feel like I could count the amount of times the characters opened up to Okabe in my hand; it isn't enough, clearly. Steins;Gate plays it too safe; the game is afraid that the reader would get bored by these scenes, and instead throws pillows of comfort over and over again. Comfortable, and enjoyable, but not substancial. That's not to say that the slice of life is exactly dominant.
At any point, which is a majority of the game, in which Steins;Gate has its focus on the plot, it's fantastic. I'd even say it reaches some of the peaks of the medium, especially toward the end. But Steins;Gate gives far too much fan-service to itself, and to, to put it bluntly, pointless bullshit. I refer back to chapters seven through nine. While chapter nine is more than serviceable, chapters seven and eight are downright offensive. They are a slog, a black hole in the story. I wouldn't even say they accomplish their job. Instead of developing the side heroines, they instead only made me feel more hate for them and the writers. Taking the routes into account, suddenly I feel violent and outraged.
I don't mind the development of side heroines. In fact, when done well, I prefer it. Take a look at it's predecessor: Chaos;Head NoAH. Each route serves to develop a heroine where the main plot, the common route, couldn't. And it does it well, with an exception which I won't get into. It uses the ladder structure in a way to benefit itself, without causing harm or blatant plotholes. Steins;Gate clearly took none of this advice and messed up on both. Unlike NoAH, Steins;Gate's routes are barely routes at all, and more like small alternate endings. Chapters seven and eight are routes themselves. The fact that it forces you to experience them even when aiming for the true end is a mistake, one born from using the ladder structure without thinking about the consequences.
My opinions on Steins;Gate as a whole are divided. I can't help but compare it to Chaos;Head NoAH and how consistently good and well-paced it was, how cleverly divided the routes were. But at the same time, Chaos;Head never reaches Steins;Gate's peaks. When Steins;Gate is at its best, it truly deserves one of the top spots in the visual novel space, if not the top spot (almost certainly above Muv-Luv Alternative, but then again it's hard to name a game that doesn't surpass it). But at its worse, it doesn't even deserve to be in the top 100. For this reason, I find Chaos;Head NoAH to be the slightly superior game, even if I look at Steins;Gate more fondly.
Does it deserve the number two spot? Personally, no, probably not. But I understand why it's there. And I think that it's important that Steins;Gate stays up there. It's a pillar of quality, judging all those below it. It's a produced game in every sense of the word. It screams quality. Without Steins;Gate, the visual novel space would not be where it is, and I don't want to imagine a world without it, a future without it.
Originally published at Limbo Channel
My history with Steins;Gate is troubled, so my experience with the game would be surely biased. The memories of the original anime and the first couple chapters that I read with a friend have been permanently ingrained into my mind, so much so that almost a decade later they haven't left their place whatsoever. Going into this game, I expected to have forgotten a lot. I was both wrong and right. The specific details remained unknown, but the plot points and general motions were all expected. Most of the plot twists and developments were not surprising to me, though this gave me the unique ability of foresight. I could see the foreshadowing and how clean the beginning of the game was without any troubles, making me appreciate them a bit more than I normally would. Now, even despite this, I still consider the first three chapters to be quite slow. The game doesn't really start until chapter four. This may not seem like an issue at first glance, but what this means is that in the first three chapters you're dumped with tons of info not presented in an entertaining way. It chooses the path of least resistence, where the introductions are gotten out of the way first, and then it runs with the plot. It doesn't integrate them into the plot as that would be too complicated. It doesn't choose to leave people shrouded in mystery as that would be too complicated. This is a running theme throughout Steins;Gate: oversimplification.
That may not seem like a particularly bad thing, and in the grand scheme of things if you're trying to capture a more mainstream audience, it's exactly what you want. Complication is but a filter to the minds of the populace. The simpler it is, the better; the more depth, the less entertaining. Frankly, I don't buy this, but it's an almost proven formula. If depth has to be introduced, then let it be completely optional; something that the average reader shouldn't touch, and only the dedicated readers must. So all of the in-between parts, and the general intrigue left out of the game is left to the side material. The side material is fucking amazing, I think most Steins;Gate fans will testify for this fact; but I don't think it's fair to leave almost crucial elements out of the game, especially when the content that was left out is better than some that was left in.
Take, for example, the Gamma worldline Drama CD. Contained within is a story about Moeka, one that develops her character further, and to the reader makes her even more sympathetic. Now consider chapters seven, eight, and nine. The former two focus on the other side heroines, and they even have their own routes to boot. But chapter nine is conveniently missing that. While Moeka is present, she's mostly left to the side; the reader isn't let in into most of her inner workings, and her backstory is still blank, except for bits and pieces. Without Gamma, Moeka is much too one-dimensional. She's used as a plot device and left to the side. It's almost as if, when the writer reached that point in the game, he decided that he had had enough of the side heroines, and cast them to the side in favor of finishing the main plot once and for all.
But it's not only Moeka: Kurisu, Mr. Braun, and Suzuha all seemingly get left out. I wasn't even properly sold on the former two until I read the side material. They gave a more introspective outlook on the both of them, giving me the depth of character that I needed. It's criminal. A lot of this, of course, has to do with the game sticking to a first-person narrative through the eyes of Okabe only. The side material changes the perspective to the respective characters, so it's expected that they would get more than from the eyes of someone else. At the same time, though, I see no reason why some of the slice of life scenes present throughout the game couldn't have held at least part of this introspection. Make the characters open up more, let them be more vulnerable. I feel like I could count the amount of times the characters opened up to Okabe in my hand; it isn't enough, clearly. Steins;Gate plays it too safe; the game is afraid that the reader would get bored by these scenes, and instead throws pillows of comfort over and over again. Comfortable, and enjoyable, but not substancial. That's not to say that the slice of life is exactly dominant.
At any point, which is a majority of the game, in which Steins;Gate has its focus on the plot, it's fantastic. I'd even say it reaches some of the peaks of the medium, especially toward the end. But Steins;Gate gives far too much fan-service to itself, and to, to put it bluntly, pointless bullshit. I refer back to chapters seven through nine. While chapter nine is more than serviceable, chapters seven and eight are downright offensive. They are a slog, a black hole in the story. I wouldn't even say they accomplish their job. Instead of developing the side heroines, they instead only made me feel more hate for them and the writers. Taking the routes into account, suddenly I feel violent and outraged.
I don't mind the development of side heroines. In fact, when done well, I prefer it. Take a look at it's predecessor: Chaos;Head NoAH. Each route serves to develop a heroine where the main plot, the common route, couldn't. And it does it well, with an exception which I won't get into. It uses the ladder structure in a way to benefit itself, without causing harm or blatant plotholes. Steins;Gate clearly took none of this advice and messed up on both. Unlike NoAH, Steins;Gate's routes are barely routes at all, and more like small alternate endings. Chapters seven and eight are routes themselves. The fact that it forces you to experience them even when aiming for the true end is a mistake, one born from using the ladder structure without thinking about the consequences.
My opinions on Steins;Gate as a whole are divided. I can't help but compare it to Chaos;Head NoAH and how consistently good and well-paced it was, how cleverly divided the routes were. But at the same time, Chaos;Head never reaches Steins;Gate's peaks. When Steins;Gate is at its best, it truly deserves one of the top spots in the visual novel space, if not the top spot (almost certainly above Muv-Luv Alternative, but then again it's hard to name a game that doesn't surpass it). But at its worse, it doesn't even deserve to be in the top 100. For this reason, I find Chaos;Head NoAH to be the slightly superior game, even if I look at Steins;Gate more fondly.
Does it deserve the number two spot? Personally, no, probably not. But I understand why it's there. And I think that it's important that Steins;Gate stays up there. It's a pillar of quality, judging all those below it. It's a produced game in every sense of the word. It screams quality. Without Steins;Gate, the visual novel space would not be where it is, and I don't want to imagine a world without it, a future without it.
Originally published at Limbo Channel