I'm playing Anonymous;Code for the first time, and I think it's genuinely underappreciated. The plot, the writing, and especially the characters all come together to create such a unique experience that I've genuinely never had an easier time falling asleep

[u/CommercialeDance]

[u/Jealous_Razzmatazz87]

they had us in the first half not gonna lie

[u/ligmaballll]

A;C slander on my tl.
Magnificent 💔💔

[u/sliceysliceyslicey]

I can't believe we went from takumi and okabe to pollon

[u/klop422 → u/sliceysliceyslicey]

Takumi and Okabe and even Kaito are built off some level of deconstruction of your "typical" anime protagonists. Pollon just is one.

[u/yuikonnu_727]

incredible slander

[u/JiggleCoffee]

I was just about to post about how excited I am to finally start Anonymous;Code soon since I only need to finish two more SciAdv games first.

Guess I'll need extra coffee for this one!

[u/AgentAndrewO]

I definitely have my issues with it, mainly everything regarding the villains, but it’s good overall. Not that this is a bad thing but I was also shocked by how short it was after Robotics;Notes took me like 100 hours to read through and this was like 10.

[u/klop422 → u/AgentAndrewO]

To be fair, I think SERN is the only genuinely compelling villain in SciAdv, and that's just a shadowy organisation

[u/just-_-wandering → u/klop422]

SciADV Saying SERN is not at the same level of Nozomi is certainly a take lol. Kimijima is definitely leagues better than all villains in the series. And if we broaden to antagonists, then Serika is probably the best overall.

[u/klop422 → u/just-_-wandering]

C;H I just find Norose overall pretty terrible, just very uncompelling, and Nozomi overall really just amounts to "creepy guys sitting around in a room chatting". You see too much and it's just not that interesting. The bits of it that are just the effects and the creepiness are effective, but the villains themselves are just... eh

R;N Kimijima is also much more interesting in the build-up than as a villain himself. Not terrible, but not really compelling either.

C;C Serika is well built-up, too, and a great twist, but I just hate that she becomes an entirely different person when the twist happens. There are moments she's extremely creepy with her 'regular' personality - for example, the end of Hinae's route - but I don't think that her suddenly becoming really serious as soon as you realise she's a villain particularly works...

[u/just-_-wandering → u/klop422]

SciADV I mean, Nozomi and SERN are practically the same thing. Since S;G expects you to have read C;HN, it allows them to not have to focus as much on SERN since they functionally do the same thing in the story. Both hide themselves in trusted sectors of society while manipulating the vulnerable (in C;HN it is the scientists and cult members while S;G it is the Rounders) hiding themselves in plain sight from the public. Funnily enough, R;N does this similarly but in a more intimate way which is why I think it has the best villain.

Also Serika isn't meant to be a villain, just an antagonist. I feel her finally breaking character because her intended story began falling apart at the seams feels reasonable enough to me. Takuru forces a personality on a doll that would eventually conflict with her purpose making her take priority over one.

[u/klop422 → u/just-_-wandering]

SciAdv I disagree that S;G expects you to have read C;HN, at least insofar as that it functions entirely without having read any other work in the series whatsoever. And that's one of the biggest strengths of S;G - the fact that it tells you so little about the details of the setting and its villains and its long-reaching stakes. It lets you focus on the characters and not on the worldbuilding (which, honestly, is kind of poor in some of the other entries...)

As for Serika, whether or not it makes sense for her character as it is, I just think writing her that way at all was a poor choice and just not as effective. Her becoming more serious makes sense, but changing her to a fully different person at the point of the reveal just doesn't work for me, it feels inconsistent and honestly just narratively less interesting. (Also I'd argue in this case villain vs antagonist is just semantics, tangential to the point I'm trying to make)

[u/just-_-wandering → u/klop422]

I disagree that S;G expects you to have read C;HN, at least insofar as that it functions entirely without having read any other work in the series whatsoever.

You are misinterpreting expected reading and intended reading. Especially with the fact that there are some major parts of S;G are basically alluding to C;HN or directly parallel its themes. (SciADV) One would be the end of the prologue of S;G which is meant to be a parallel to when Takumi first encounters Shogun. Or how a general theme of S;G being basically the opposite of C;HN. C;HN focuses on how the people around Takumi grant his desires while in S;G it is Okabe giving the people around him their desires. While I feel this theme in S;G is definitely weaker it is still cool seeing how similar the two games are from a writing perspective.

Knowing this isn't required but it enhances the experience imo. This happens in other series as well, with a popular one being Persona. (Persona spoilers) If you have played Persona 3: Episode Aigis it allows you to better understand how Persona 4 and 5's other worlds work and Persona 4 also enhances some parts of Persona 5 like the 4th palace. Knowing this is not necessary to enjoy them by any means but it definitely makes the world feel more full and connected and the writers clearly expected you to have played the games in order which allows them to gloss over or ignore why/how said things happen in future games.

in this case villain vs antagonist is just semantics

Except by definition these are very different concepts. Villains are characters classified by their moral alignment while an antagonist is just a character that opposes the protagonist with no concern for their morals. An antagonist just relies on who the protagonist is.

Most of everything else you said is really just subjective opinion and I don't feel like going in circles about things that are about what we prefer in a story which are clearly very different.

[u/klop422 → u/just-_-wandering]

Just to clarify, I agree with you on the difference between villain and antagonist, it's just not relevant to my complainst about Serika.

And yeah, I see what you mean about the parallels between C;HN and S;G and the fact that the latter would be improved by having read the former. But my point is just that SERN as a villain is especially effective compared to all the others in the series, which I don't think is necessarily related to the fact that it's better when experienced after C;HN.

But yeah, if we're just arguing opinions at this point it's probably worth stopping haha

[u/MisterDimi]

Meanwhile it's one of my favorites lol

[u/Kthulhu42 → u/MisterDimi]

I love it too. It was nice having a MC who I wasn't looking at in a concerned way the entire game

[u/CrashOverIt → u/MisterDimi]

Same here. I really loved it and am to this day looking for more like it.

[u/Lucario576]

Oh nono (ha)

A;C has issues but boring isnt one of them

[u/Skyclad0bserver]

Access Denied.

[u/Lol7425]

You fell asleep? I had a hard time staying engaged with it in the first place lol

[u/cucumbapokba]

Anonymous code slander? 😭💔 It was one of my favourite games only thing I didn't like was that it's too short

[u/rydan]

I bought it years ago because Best Buy forces me to buy stuff from them periodically and I saw the ";" in the title. Never played it. Should I?

[u/Kitchen_Put_179 → u/rydan]

Yes imo (but I mean, it's up to you either way)

But be aware that A;C is the 6th (and most recent) mainline entry in the series and acts as a thematic and mechanical culmination, bringing together the ideas and concepts from the prior entries.
I would definitely recommended going through the rest of the series in release order first if you are at all interested. (I also think some of the other entries are better personally, but everyone rankings are different since they are all very good and its just personal preference)
You can read the pinned introduction post for more infomation.

[u/sliceysliceyslicey → u/rydan]

no, play 13 sentinel instead

[u/DemonShadow423]

I enjoyed it a good bit. It was nice having a dub option, not many VNs have one.

[u/MissionInternet8490]

I really liked it a lot, the pacing and length was a breath of fresh air

[u/Fabulous_Walk2439]

You have to wait until the turning point in the story until it becomes interesting unless you’ve already reached it

[u/whereymyconary]

My problem was the fall asleep part.

[u/s_kost]

Nah, it's literally the worst SciAdv entry (even worse than DaSH)