Deciding the VN I WILL play this month
Entry posted by Clephas
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I haven't decided which of these VNs I will play this month, but I thought I'd let yall in on my thought processes.
Basic Impressions (based off of previews, official pages, and Getchu pages)
Hamidashi Creative- This looks like a solid charage, just from the way they actually decided to handle the intros. https://vndb.org/v27449/chars?view=2S-7Nx23xHY#chars
1) No protagonist intro- Speaking from experience, when the protagonist doesn't even have a brief introduction on the official or Getchu sites, that usually means there is a good chance of a kusoge. This is because it usually signals the writers' intention to twist the protagonist's personality to fit the heroines in each path, rather than giving him an actual solid characterization.
2) The story summary actually describes something valid to the story, giving you at least an impression of what the game might be like- This might not seem that important, but games that avoid giving such impressions, focusing 90% on introducing the heroines only, are basically moe-whore-bait. Very few aren't kusoge in those cases, and the ones that aren't are because the writers were actually hiding a story behind the fluff they put up beforehand (a tactic that tends to have negative consequences, but still some companies do it).
3) The existence of an imouto heroine- Very few charage that don't have an imouto heroine or imouto support character are any good. I don't say this because I love imouto characters (though I am moderately fond of them), but rather because for some reason, imoutos as support characters tend to help characterize the protagonist and heroines both. For some reason, charage writers seem to have trouble making heroines feel real if there isn't a token imouto standing by in the wings.
4) One of the heroines is presented as being 'whimsical'- This might seem like a weird sign for me to mention, but if at least one of the heroines (preferably an older one) or support characters is a whimsical and influential individual, the game tends to be more amusing and/or interesting. This is because the whims of this character can break up the monotony that plagues the average SOL game in ways that keep the reader interested, even if it isn't their favorite genre.
Sakura no Kumo * Scarlet no Koi https://vndb.org/v26664
1) NOT based in the modern era- This in itself can make things interesting, depending on how it is handled. Generally speaking, the 'present-day SOL school setting' is the most abused and overused setting in all of JVNs and visual novels in general.
2) Possibly a mystery VN? To be honest, this isn't that much of a draw for me. However, sending a modern-day guy back to the Taishou era (twenty years previous to WWII, before the extremist fires of Imperial Japan reached their peak) sounds like an interesting premise (technically Hachimyoujin did something similar, but it isn't the same thing). As such, I will definitely play this eventually, even if it isn't picked for this month.
3) Protagonist is introduced in the official and Getchu pages AND he has a sprite- This really is important, because it shows how much, in the way of resources the makers of this game are putting into it. Most of the time, even if the best friend and support characters have sprites, the protagonist won't, mostly using a FP perspective as an excuse (and it is an excuse). That he doesn't have VA is a downer, but VAs for protags outside of chuunige are rare, at best.
Kagi o Kakushita Kago no Tori https://vndb.org/v25670
1) Cabbit game- All Cabbit games are weird. No, I'm not kidding. They can be SOL one moment, with mild-mannered heroines doing normal things, then turn creepy as all hell the next moment, depending on choices or the events of the story. Midori no Umi was creepy from the beginning, but their other games were a bit more up and down. You can never tell what a Cabbit game will be like just by looking at it, so I'm interested to see what they'll do to my brain this time.
2) Androphobic heroine- This might not seem like a positive element, but the act of slowly getting past the guard of an androphobic heroine can be extremely therapeutic for the reader. It is also often interesting (unless they go the dark nukige route) to watch. Of course, depending on how it is handled, this can destroy the game too, lol.
3) Murder Mystery- This isn't the first time I've played a Cabbit game with a murder mystery, and, considering how they handled it in the other games, it is probably going to surprise the hell out of me. That said, I've already guessed the two most likely perps, but I'm still interested to see if I'm right (cues in character descriptions).
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