Visual Novels, Anyone?

[Tsukyndale]

So, I love visual novels, more so than manga (but a little bit less than anime). But they have a very niche fanbase, being that they have that Japanese art style and the fact that they're books you can't really get in print form. Who else likes reading off a screen with the music in the back with those pictures of your favourite characters changing their facial expressions?!

My personal favourites are Ever17, Planatarian (;_;), Phoenix Wright, Umineko no Naku Koro Ni, and Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni.

It's surprisingly harder than one would think it would be to get the h-scenes in most GOOD games.
Those games made for the sake of shoving hentai in your face are for perverts. >.>
Real visual novels are like books.

As you can tell from my choices, I usually play visual novels that are linear, having one plot line. I am just horrible at making decisions about girls >.<

I wish there were a lot more in English though, so that I could actually read some.

 

[zeromac]

You mean point and click games? =.=''

 

[Tsukyndale]

You mean point and click games? =.=''

No, no, point and click games are entirely different. They're games.
Visual novels, you just kinda sit there and push a button to make the text change!

It sounds boring as a game, I know...
But it's really a novel in a different form.
I personally don't believe visual novels should be classified as a games at all.

 

[Cermage]

i havent played/read (?) all that many but from what i've played i've been blown away. Saya no uta is probably the best one i've gone through, with type-moon stuff not far behind.

 

[blackdragonbaham]

the firt time i hear of that type of media, but it sounds pretty interesting, so im gonna try it out:.
btw is that virtual art book ''zelda - molblins magic spear'' some kind of this media?

 

[martin88]

I'd suggest just playing the game and follow a guide that tells you which option to choose to get to the good ending. This way you can read the game like a visual novel, without having to worry about getting the 'bad end'.

Here are some of the games I've completed this way:

and I still have a large back catalog of H games to complete.

But of course it depends on if there's a English translation hack for the game. All of those game in the picture above have Chinese translation hack, hence is why I was able to enjoy it. I generally find that there's much more Chinese translation effort for Japanese games/materials (for example, the recent DS game Love Plus is already being translated and is expected to be finished soon), so it's great if you're Chinese.

 

[Tsukyndale]

the firt time i hear of that type of media, but it sounds pretty interesting, so im gonna try it out:.
btw is that virtual art book ''zelda - molblins magic spear'' some kind of this media?

Erm, after watching a video, I'd say... kind of... >.<

It's more like a picture book with a narration tape...

Visual novels are usually much more text heavy, and a popular one that's in English on the DS is Phoenix Wright (yes! it's a visual novel too! a little different, but a VN nonetheless!).

 

[Hop2089]

I do like Little Busters and Phoenix Wright but why do they make 60% of PC VN with hentai, come on is it really necessary to have that kind of content unless it's eroge genre.

 

[TheWingless]

Nice list of translated/in progress Visual novels: http://translationlibrary.blicky.net/ff/ff_vnlibrary.htm

No links to get the isos though! Only the legal method! Patches are there though.

Well about the linear plot visual novels, Planetarian was the only one made by "KEY" specifically as what they call a "Kinetic Novel" so far if you want one by them.

KEY has also made:
CLANNAD (Translation 99.99% in EDITING), NO adult content or separate version
Kanon (Translation 100%), Originally has adult content but has an all-ages version
AIR (

 

[Jaems]

I've heard of these games, and always just referred to them as "porno games."
But they are so popular it seems, and I always hear about Fate/Stay Night on Kotaku and other gamesites.

Something I don't understand, however: what's the point of the porn part? Does it really add anything to the stories, or is it just there to jerk off to? I mean, they always re-release these games minus the ero part, or with added ero, so, seriously, what's the point?

 

[Guild McCommunist]

They don't seem interesting.

If it was interesting enough it would have been a book/movie/TV series, quite honestly.

Adventure games, like Phoenix Wright, aren't too bad though.

 

[TheWingless]

Something I don't understand, however: what's the point of the porn part? Does it really add anything to the stories, or is it just there to jerk off to? I mean, they always re-release these games minus the ero part, or with added ero, so, seriously, what's the point?
Depending on what type of Visual novel it is, there's a point to them, I GUESS. Otherwise, it's the extra content that I don't want in there anyways, which would explain the version without the ero scene since there was no point to them except service other people might want. Some people like the ero scenes I guess, but you do get a larger audience when you make a clean version and there are some people who buy every version of everything. Re-release=more money... sometimes? Also, when they make PS2 ports, Sony doesn't tolerate that stuff, so that's another reason it gets removed.

Now, there are parts where it's supposed to be a part of the story like in Fate/Stay Night it had something to do with magic and the main dude didn't know how to transfer it so he had to do it physically at a low success rate and all of that trash(they went into some sort of trance in the anime). And if you went into the dating sim area of visual novels, there would be plot lines based around that as a GOAL, and quite possibly the rape plot line where you just end up with a bad end, or so I've heard. Thought there's also dating sims like that one recent one for DS which is clean. But the big one is if they PORT it, there are strict guidelines they have to follow.

Now, there are games that NEVER have ero added or removed, like CLANNAD, Planetarian, Higurashi, and Umineko. They are pretty good on their own. Little Busters is good, but they decided to include it in a re-release with like 3? more endings/heroines with ero content added.

Though, it'd be nice if people don't stereotype the whole VISUAL NOVEL=DATING SIM=ERO. Not all visual novels have ero content.

QUOTE(Guild McCommunist @ Dec 30 2009, 08:42 PM) If it was interesting enough it would have been a book/movie/TV series, quite honestly.

I think visual novels have their advantages. The best one would be is the ability to have choices and multiple endings. This could be something done with a book by skipping around pages or a series of books, I guess, but that's a hassle. I don't think it'd work well as a movie or TV series though. Usually in TV series, you get "arcs" of 3-6 episodes on one story which makes 24 episodes not enough for the whole thing. That's pretty much the best part, since it's like having different stories in one. And you get images and sound along with it. All of the stories help define the final ending. At least, that's how it works in some of them.

 

[Cermage]

They don't seem interesting.

If it was interesting enough it would have been a book/movie/TV series, quite honestly.

Adventure games, like Phoenix Wright, aren't too bad though.

eh they've got their own charm. they're like a complicated picture book with music and different endings.

 

[Tsukyndale]

They don't seem interesting.

If it was interesting enough it would have been a book/movie/TV series, quite honestly.

-_-;;

Most popular visual novels DO get turned into TV series(es?).

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni
Umineko no Naku Koro Ni
Fate/Stay Night
Clannad
Air
Kanon

And it's very hard to exclude Phoenix Wright from the "visual novel" genre because all you have to do is pick the right answer to progress the story line. And it generally doesn't take much more than guesswork. And you can't forget it's possible to get a bad end in case 4 in Justice For All! ;P