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Review of Necrobarista

SubjectNecrobarista
Necrobarista
ByHelpfulness: 3
Vote: 6
psm3l0 on 2020-09-10
ReviewI wanted to like Necrobarista. The visual proposal was different from the static visual novel sprites, the localization in Portuguese (my first language) is something I encourage... But, I ended up unimpressed.

There's a world that seems to be interesting but is poorly explained. It was hard for me to be moved by certain passages or to let myself be taken away by the story when part of me was always a bit confused.

The choice of writing an observant narrator, without exploring the psychological aspects of the characters, also seemed wrong to me. We don't know their conflicts, everything sounds superficial and, again, it increases the confusion about the true meaning of their actions.

The Portuguese translation, which does not even seem to have been revised, does not help either. It is difficult to appreciate a text so full of errors. I admire the team's good intention to bring the work into Portuguese, but translation is a complicated job. You can't do it poorly. It's even disrespectful to the public to release a translation done in such a half-hearted way. I'm not sure about the other translations quality, but I hope they aren't as bad as this one.

I also came across some bugs. From illegible sentences to animation errors, they are small glitches that stain the team's work. Even the proposal of being an animated visual novel almost fails thanks to the lack of synchrony of visuals and sound effects.

That said, I don't think Necrobarista is a bad visual novel. It tells a nice story about death arrival, there're charismatic characters, a great soundtrack, and a beautiful aesthetic. However, the writing doesn't follow the quality of the rest. And this, in a genre so dependent on the text, is like a nail in the coffin.
3 points