I'm so sorry, this is my third Hong Sangsoo's movie and I'm afraid it's not for me! 😭

I think there is much to appreciate about this and you're definitely going to love this if you're a fan of the aforementioned director. Probably the most impressive part for me is how coherent the writing felt despite this being written by more than two hands, which suggests that the project lead and editor did a fantastic job.

There were a lots of parts I enjoyed, like the bits of character drama we got, the character pulling their phones to look up a Wikipedia article, any scene with the ducks... But on the whole, this is not my genre.

To be honest, putting my thoughts on this one into words is going to be a little difficult, mostly because I can't help but feel like the ogre from that one meme about reading Ulysses and only being able to identify the basic surface themes.

I don't feel like I know enough about the film that inspired this VN to comment about how well it reflects the inspiration, but I'm a big fan of the way that the novel depicts the character's conversations as existing and moving in "real" space through the backgrounds, and the conversations themselves straddle a good line of being realistically meandering without feeling pointless or boring.

I like that the flaws in Minna & Markus' characters are introduced gradually enough that the ending feels earned without being predictable, and the final scene with the choice at the end being a callback to Minna's idea of a VN using choices to control a character's feelings rather than just their actions was a nice touch. I'd say the "meta" aspects of the story are the strongest thing to me, overall, even if I'll admit there's probably a good portion of it that escapes me or that I might be reading too far into (I knew something was "off" but I didn't even realise the game was created in Godot rather than Ren'Py until I saw someone else point it out, and I'm not 100% on whether the conversation about the shopping centre's walls and Minna commenting that she felt they were 'lying' to her was meant to be a deliberate nod towards the concept of "the 4th wall" and how videogames specifically as a medium can be used to play with it).

I think if I have two complaints I feel comfortable making, it's that the "circular" nature of the VN can feel a little confusing (and not necessarily in a good way) on your first playthrough, and that for all I enjoyed the way the game makes use of its backgrounds as a "real" space that the characters move through it made it all the more jarring when characters would end up succuming to "Visual Novel characters standing on the tables" syndrome whenever they sat down at a restaurant or something.

Overall though I'm definitely glad that somebody made something like this. It's refreshing that a story all about people with an 'outsider' perspective making use of that perspective to create something that goes against genre norms was able to reflect that concept in its own story. I might not be the target audience for the story, but like Minna herself I enjoyed my brief trip into something a little different nonetheless.

I actually ended up liking this VN a lot. I really enjoyed the artsy short-film vibes, where you can tell the director put careful consideration in the cinematography. Which is definitely a thing in visual novels too. There's also something about their dialogue that feels a bit... deliberately meandering as well. Uniquely foreign (if that's okay for me to say as an English speaker reading this in English). It's good. I think there were several artistic concepts I actually understood too, like the idea of intensely examining the ceiling panels and losing oneself in them after committing a perhaps shameful act of infidelity, or the liminality of a mall being used as a transition between scenes. I think the story that was actually being told here was Markus being gradually eroded out of the story for various reasons, mainly his own faults. First, it seemed like the start of a promising relationship, but then he cheated on his wife. Second, the three of them had an ordinary hangout where Markus' contributions (the berries) were simply discarded. Finally, Markus' role was simply rejected. A time loop, yet a clear sense of progression. I think there's a lot to analyze in this one, but generally I think it's practically made for overthinking reviews like this one so I'll attempt to stop myself here and say that I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. Thanks for making it.

What Purrka was thinking while writing this: I'm so meta, even this acronym. 

In all seriousness this one kinda flew over my head entirely. It is going to feel weird saying I didn't like this and have that feel like a meaningful addition to how this is viewed. It might be down to my lack of understanding of the material/works that inspired it, or maybe the translation at times not vibing with me. This just feels impenetrable in away that doesn't feel like its the fault of the work itself. I do suggest it since this is rather unique and those more familiar with what the team is trying to do will get more out of it than I.

-Cheers!

This one is. Interesting.
There's been many things said about it already so I just want to go and say that it didn't feel much like a story with characters and more like... a narrative with archetypes.
As someone who absolutely hates it when characters get referred to by their characteristics I was at first angry at the use of "the poet", "the game designer" "the artist" until it simply kept on being used. It then clicked that these characters, at least to me, were not presented as characters and much more as tools for what they represent. Which then made it click into place that it was the case for everything here.
None of this felt much like a real thing and much more like a representation of experiences. 
A window into a world of archetypes that do, or do not work together.
As the initial "plot" of two strangers watching movies gets derailed by a man with ulterior motives everything else gets derailed as well.
I have never seen Finland or any of its cities so the use of actual locations and names felt both alienating and inviting.
The strange... replication of Renpy felt interesting as well.
Once I unzipped it and only an exe was in the file I had to prepare myself for whatever was waiting for me,
The camera movement and the little duckies jumping around in the end felt like a fine artistic touch.
I am leaving this one with a "what the hell/10" but am giving bonus kudos for not being american centric.
Hooray for more culture.

I like this visual novel, even if I didn't 'get' it. I tend to take things at face value, which isn't the best for a more contemplative visual novel like this one, but I enjoyed my time with it.  I think the way the images were edited to move gave it a very consistent feeling of watching a movie or maybe more accurately people watching, this helped add to the tone of mundane every day life that I think you were going for. The ending was great and left me feeling satisfied.

'The Poet's Visual Novel' is a minimalistic and meditative story about the creation, collaboration, and analysis of art, and in this visual novel's case, about visual novels (very meta). By the writer's admission, this is heavily influenced by a director, Hong Sang-soo, and his film 'The Novelist's Film', and while I haven't seen the film, just one look at the trailer on youtube, you can immediately see the stylistic inspiration. The visual novel itself is surprisingly clever in it's repetitive and cyclical nature, softly but persistently beating you over the head on what this visual novel is about. There's almost a dull mundaneness to the entirety of it, though still managing to eek out a dramatic twist at the end, that somehow feels vicious yet completely fair. There's not so subtle allegories and metaphors being portrayed about the process of making art and putting it out to be judged and consumed. There's also a not so subtle reminder that collaboration can be as difficult and cutthroat, no matter what the size or scale of a project. The UI presentation is also really clever as well, especially when you consider themes in the VN, as well as the fact that a custom engine was used to portray the stock Ren'Py default UI. This visual novel has a lot to say, even if at times it comes off as pre-self-justifying. I can admit that it's probably not going to be to everyone's taste or attention span. This one is good for readers that have the patience to sit through some slow dialog and are in a particularly artsy mood to contemplate the nature of interpreting art.

This one caught my eye because of the creator's comment that they were inspired from the works of Hong Sangsoo! It's not often that a furry VN is inspired by an acclaimed filmmaker from my home country. I was introduced to Hong's work by his latest film, "What Does That Nature Say to You." So I can't say I'm an expert on his work, however I can definitely see the inspirations and parallels in this work. There's something homely and intimate about this dialogue between these characters that make me feel very comforted. I am a lover of "art about art" and the meta premise was very cool imo. There's also something about a Finnish written work inspired by Korean cinema translated into English that makes this for a really interesting diverse set of influences. Really loved this one and found it interesting!