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Visual novels and their emotional meanings to you


Joachim

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You are at the end of your journey and it is time to part. This might not be the last time you will see each other, but your story is over. You are leaving this feelings of sorrow and joy you have shared for so long, memories vividly colorful and fulfilling. Now silence has taken hold of the place. Time passes and this feeling of emptiness is now overwhelming. Since when does your life used to be so monotonous ?

This aftertaste of visual novels stay only for some days, but memories don't fade. You are dealing with deep feelings that just forced themselves into your lives. Forget about your everyday duties, your universe just got deeper. You desperatly want to rationalise, transform this feelings into words, yours or others, to get back to control of your emotions. This topic is an attempt to it, not a guideline, but a mere example. I tried to avoid important spoilers.

As much as I would like to search into the details about the scenaristical devices that make these stories this engrossing, I don't feel prepared for this right now. I hope to do it someday, as it will improve my experiences aswell.

You are the hero, a lonesome, off centered but mostly sociable guy. You are enjoying a frivolous life of small pleasures, until you begin to meet girls. Each one has her quirks, lending occasions to have fun times and get slowly to know each other and build trust. This sentimental building will lead you to impersonnate the main character, and to care for its surroundings.

Concretly, in Katawa Shoujo, the concerns you will have for your health will lead you to Emi's route. You are then confronted to these painful efforts against you own body, and discover in the cheerfulness of Emi how companionship can shape an everyday physical strain to something enjoyable and high spirit inducing. This is inspiring to say the least !

As the personnality of the heroine is gradually uncovered, the hero discover a different angle of the problem he was facing. He can't stay idle as he was at the beginning of the story : he becomes aware of what is at stake.

In Clannad, school is the symbol of how the hero failed to accomplish what he once dreamed of, and the pressure to redefine himself in the midst of it. As a result he is shutting himself off from everything school related, until he has to get involved for the heroines. At first this effort is selfless, but he gradually want to make them for his own sake too.

The hero is now on the way to discover his true self. But he soon has to face the heroine's own demons. They are implacable, impersonable, sometimes almighty . The challenge he has to face seems completely out of his grasp. This is her fate and you can't control it. It has become part of her very being.

Whatever options is given to you, you have rationnaly lost.

Each part of the story are points of enlightenment, and brings a deep understanding about human relationships, and one owns relation to himself. You are confronted to real life issues and learn how to deal with it. New themes, situations and possibilities are present to you in a personnal and deeply rewarding way. You shouldn't be afraid to use your own words, as far away from your feelings they might seem, because there is logic in it, and to grasp it could improve your life.

Let's get to the heart of it then, and my thoughts about Makoto's route in canon. Spoiler ahead !

Yuuchi is the kind of snarky guy, with a very light sens of derision . He is likable and pushes things forward. When he stumbles on Makoto, their personnalities clash instantly, not without humor. Her childish and playful ways is exasperating Yuuchi. At it's climax, when Makoto is moving in, their fight felt very personnal to me, who had to move places in a similar way in my personnal life. I could relate to her feelings of awkwardness, and her behavior. Fortunately the pranks really brighten up the mood. Yuuchi's rudeness is legendary until he follows her up the hill though. He eventually get to understand how fragile his own situation his, and that his fight against her is all about safe keeping it's own place. He is just like her, a burden, and he didn't want to be reminded about it. At that point they both strengthen each other, and make efforts to stop being frustrated people. And then comes the climax... It was relatable to my life aswell. Others who might have known people having suffered brain cancer, alzheimer, parkinson and any degenerative diseases might agree with me when I think how close to reality it feels. The ending is so wonderful and full of hope though : a perfect closure.

I wish you enjoyed this reading, and be inspired by it to write your own thoughts about stories and what you got from them. How it might be written won't matter as I will read them with feverish curiousity :lol:.

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There are a lot of factors that go into the emotional attachment I have to my favorite visual novels, and to games in general, but the two that stand out the farthest are moments and music. The best games have those scenes with moments so genuine they shatter you. Characters that struggle with weakness probably produce these the most for me. Not hetare, but weakness that you can actually relate to and understand the difficulty of overcoming it. A lot of stories are about facing the wall of limitation and climbing over it through blood, sweat, and tears. Those are great too, but I've always found the moments that stay with me are the ones where that character gives it everything they have and fails, not because they didn't try hard enough but because sometimes everything you have isn't good enough. The characters that are able to accept that and move on are the ones I end up admiring as really strong, although they aren't always the stars of the story.

Music is a big factor as well, though probably for a much more biological reason. I've decided to play many games after hearing one song I enjoyed from their soundtrack on Youtube, just because the picture the music painted was so good I thought the game just had to be amazing. It's harder to put a reason on the musical attachment other than just loving music in general though.

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Its amazing. I was a US Marine for over 20 years. Ive been to war. Been shot, blown up. Youd think I was tough as nails right?

Well I am, but let me tell you.

Clannad and Kanon Visual Novels had me tearing up. Especially Clannad. A mixture of great music and AWESOME characters, I was no match for that.

I wont post spoilers here, but there were times in both VN's that i was pretty wrecked.

Music for me plays a HUGE part in the enjoyment of a VN and Key is the best in that regard. That mixed with amazing character development is a 1+2 knockout punch.

Ive been hooked ever since.

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Clannad and Kanon Visual Novels had me tearing up. Especially Clannad. A mixture of great music and AWESOME characters, I was no match for that.

I wont post spoilers here, but there were times in both VN's that i was pretty wrecked.

Music for me plays a HUGE part in the enjoyment of a VN and Key is the best in that regard. That mixed with amazing character development is a 1+2 knockout punch.

Ive been hooked ever since.

I'll second that, imo music helps a lot with immersion and enjoyment in a VN as it helps setting a good mood / atmosphere, which can be just as important as the character's developements.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ryoji, huge respect for being a US Marine.

Yeah, I agree with you guys' points. Narcissu was the first VN I ever played, and the music in that game have stuck with me even to this day.

In VNs, I'm usually the most moved when a character opens up. For example, again, Setsumi in Narcissu. Either that, or in like Katawa Shoujo, where a character has a disability but she accepts it without falling into despair. That kind of strength is inspiring.

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  • 2 years later...

In the forgotten depths of Visual Novel Talk I found this. I feel a need to post here because the OP reminded me of the reason why I love Visual Novels and continue to engage in the medium.

 

The first Visual Novel I had a deep emotional connection with was Yume Miru Kusuri. I remember distinctly, around 4 years ago during winter vacation was when I read Yume Miru Kusuri. The music from the title screen was what originally hooked me. I knew absolutely nothing prior to reading the VN other than the fact that the title music sounded tranquil but uneasy, much like my life was. I started the journey of Kouhei Kagami's life in my bed with my laptop, shortly after waking up. Within the first couple of minutes I was hooked. The opening scene continued with a different yet equally mellow track that resonated perfectly with the monotony of Kouhei's life. Kouhei was a diligent and obedient straight-A student, but was bored with his life. He observed his life and his surroundings while internally making witty and intelligent analogies. What I quickly realized was that Kouhei was me. He led a passive existence by avoiding trouble and doing what he was told, but consequently was leading a meaningless life. When Kouhei meets each of the three heroines, an opportunity presents itself to stray away from the conventional. An opportunity for Kouhei to find himself through another person. Mizuki for one, represents a path of hedonism. She is in the same situation as Kouhei, but unlike him, she is actively trying to find excitement in life. She offers the choices to live life to its fullest and in the most reckless fashion; instead of continuing to live life in its most mediocre possible way. The "Fairy" girl whose route I have not read actually, seems to represent something similar. But I can't elaborate since I don't know her story. Anyway the other girl is Aeka.

 

Aeka was the girl who I first chose. Unlike Mizuki who offered excessive escapism and hedonism as a choice to lead a different life, Aeka presented the option of living a meaningful life with care and love.

Kouhei's struggle in this route is to love and care enough about a girl to step in and defend her from bullies. If he makes such a commitment, he is voluntarily sacrificing his comfortable and passive role, and taking in an active role that has to participate in life. By making such a choice he is putting himself at risk of becoming a victim of extreme bullying, and will have to involve himself in Aeka's life. Needless to say, without getting into specific spoilers, the relationship he and Aeka formed was absolutely beautiful. Despite the sacrifices he made, he found meaning in his life through this girl. He cared enough to step in and involve himself with her, and he found a meaning in existing beyond just surviving and going unnoticed.

What's more, the struggles they couple faced were huge. I could not put the story down, and when I finally got the good ending to her route, I realized that I spent over 15 hours in my bed in front of a screen. When I turned off my laptop and prepared for bed, I felt so apathetic. During that time I didn't care about my life, my mind was still too preoccupied with the story I just read. It ended up taking days to soak in that story. I spent the remainder of my vacation playing arcade classics like Pac-man and Donkey-Kong. I needed to further absorb the experience, but I needed a partial distraction for my mind as well. Some might say that I wasted those days; mindlessly playing video games while contemplating my emotions over a story, but I would strongly disagree. Sure, I felt nearly depressed after Aeka's story, but that was because it made me reflect on my own life as well. As I said earlier, I myself was frustrated over the meaninglessness of my life much like Kouhei was at the beginning of the story. On top of that, it got me to think about the bullying at my school. Much like Kouhei, I played a completely passive role and avoided associating with bully victims, and sucked up to the bullies. That worked well for me, but I was starting to question that my lack of involvement was almost just as bad. Ultimately, Yume Miru Kusuri left a mark on me.

 

The emotions and thoughts it made me experience was something that I liked. In a weird way, the style in which the story immersed me though good writing, music and visuals; gave me a sense of meaning. When I was reading and clicking for the next set of words to appear, I was genuinely experiencing something that was powerful. Nothing else had really affected me like that before. The Kanon 2006 anime kind of did, but not in the same way. In any case, I knew from then onward that I had to further explore the medium of visual novels. I've since had many pleasant experiences with visual novels but the most emotional experience that I remember since then was reading Symphonic Rain. When I have time in the near future, I intend on writing about my emotional experience with Symohonic Rain in another post.    

 

(Sorry for the long post. I personally love long thought out posts, so I know other people must as well. But I am also aware that many people don't).           

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In the forgotten depths of Visual Novel Talk I found this. I feel a need to post here because the OP reminded me of the reason why I love Visual Novels and continue to engage in the medium.

...

 

The emotions and thoughts it made me experience was something that I liked. In a weird way, the style in which the story immersed me though good writing, music and visuals; gave me a sense of meaning. When I was reading and clicking for the next set of words to appear, I was genuinely experiencing something that was powerful. Nothing else had really affected me like that before. The Kanon 2006 anime kind of did, but not in the same way. In any case, I knew from then onward that I had to further explore the medium of visual novels. I've since had many pleasant experiences with visual novels but the most emotional experience that I remember since then was reading Symphonic Rain. When I have time in the near future, I intend on writing about my emotional experience with Symohonic Rain in another post.    

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I have not read much drama. However, I've still felt a lot from VN's.

 

999, my first VN (and my second favorite). I won't spoilers here (if I could, I could turn up a goddamn essay) but two of the endings just blew my mind and tore at my heart at the same time.

 

Virtue's Last Reward. Fear, happiness, sadness, mindfuck- I hate roller coasters IRL, but this was one hell of a ride. My favorite game of all time.

 

Steins; Gate's second half. Seriously...

 

Umineko- This VN probably made me feel all there was to feel, but it is too long for me to remember anything.

 

I love stories, and my hobbies are based on things that have stories: I love rock music for its meaningful lyrics, VN's my favorite video game genre nowadays because they have mastered storytelling, and I read fiction for the very same reason. They shape who I am and how I think, they give me unique memories and make me feel once-in-a-lifetime feelings. 

 

VN's, for me, in their essence, are catalysts for profound feelings.

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Though, having just read Symphonic Rain, I'll agree that the emotions and thoughts I felt during and after reading it was a wonderful experience and is one of the reasons I love reading VNs so much.

I teared up going to sleep yesterday, not from sadness, but from all sorts of emotions I felt as I reflected upon all of the characters, themes, etc. etc. (Haven't cried in a long while, it felt good xD).

~~~

That being said, I usually move on soon enough and do not dwell any further.

 

This is remarkably close to my experience. I finished Symphonic quite late in the night and cried myself to sleep in contemplation as well. When I went to bed I knew I read something that I would never experience again in the same way. I was sad because I was not only parting with the characters that I grew to love despite their faults, but I was leaving the land of Piova. The beautiful background music, art style and most noticeably the rain. Finishing the Visual Novel and retreating to bed was a painful reminder that I had to live my own life again. I was no longer a participant in Piova, but crashed back to reality...

 

 

VN's, for me, in their essence, are catalysts for profound feelings.

 

    In my opinion Visual novels are the modern day poetry. While poetry used to be the primary medium of emotional expression, I feel that a good visual novel can invoke feeling far better than any poem could. All the emotions that I previously described never happened when reading poetry, only from reading VNs.

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Konata yori Kanata Made  (don't open this unless you don't mind being spoiled)

This is a story about one young man and how he deals with his inevitable death. His story is worth an endless river of tears, and each heroine path provides a new outlook on the way he is dealing with his fate. The nurse's path revisits how he first discovered his illness and his loving attempts to turn the little girl in the next bed back from her isolation, by telling her the simple fact that he will die before her, thus she will not leave him alone when she dies. Krys's path focuses on the sorrow and joy of a life lived to its fullest and a death accepted (though her true path is the only one where he lives). The monster-hunter girl's path focuses on the gratitude for a life saved, the joy of love, and the affirmation that a path in darkness is not necessarily without hope or joy. Finally, the osananajimi's path is a denial that distancing one's loved ones from the reality of one's inevitable death is a kindness, and an acceptance that death is not an abandonment but merely a parting.



I have never, never been so completely affected emotionally by a VN in a realistic manner as I have this one. This VN deals with death, its inevitability, and its effects on the human spirit in such an intimate fashion that even the most hard-hearted of men or women can't help but be touched by the journey.

 

Evolimit

While this story contains a great deal of philosophy, wonderful characters, and great humor... its real theme is heroes. Heroes in their glory, their growth, their joy, their despair... and heroes fallen. Heroic pioneers, heroic defenders of the people, heroic warriors facing down loved ones gone mad, and heroes who sacrifice their lives without resistance, in hope of bringing a single friend back to sanity. I don't think I've ever come across a VN that explored the human concept of heroes both in glory and tragedy to the extent that this one does... or nearly as well. Heroes are not always good, they are frequently flawed, but what makes them a hero is that they are both larger than life and utterly human at the same time.

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I keep coming back to VNs because they capture the ebb and flow of human emotion so well. The ephemeral flame of a person's life which shines brightest at the moment of revelation after a herculean effort. The moment when a character fulfills a dream or manages to find the piece missing from the void in his/her heart is what I look forward to in a VN. Once I realize that the facade has been pulled, whether that be from the world itself or the mask the character was wearing, I know that something has changed. An irrevocable turning point, be it good or bad which manages to pull at my heart strings. The music, art, and writing work as one to fully immerse the reader. At that point in the VN I become the character, basking in the sweet satisfaction of having accomplished something great.

 

For example, in Saya no Uta Fuminori's condition is only satiated while having Saya around. Saya is quite the enigma, a savior lurking in the shadows, presenting herself right at the moment of Fuminori's ultimate despair. I was willing to put aside the taboo and the crimes that took place because I sympathized with Fuminori. His plight was one of survival, to do whatever it took to protect his humanity and the emblem that represented this, Saya. Seeing how far he would go to protect his world was a harrowing experience but it also sparked a sincere appreciation for his love toward someone else. It was a roller coaster of emotions and one that that I was grateful for. I had never experienced a piece of writing that could elicit such a response from me.

 

Yume Miru Kusuri is also another fine example of the emotional power that VNs hide beneath the surface. The protagonist takes on many roles in this VN as he struggles to overcome his apathy and the overall monotony that plagues his life. He learns to let go of his inhibitions and have fun. He learns to protect and care for those around him. It was an emotional experience, especially in the Aeka route, because I got to see how far the protagonist would go to uphold his virtues. I got see the change occur as he went from a passive person to someone who could find a shred of hope and light in his life, ultimately clinging to it in order to grow as a person.

 

There are a myriad of other examples that show how VNs appeal to our primal emotions. The desire to protect. The will to survive. I'll come back as many times as I need to experience that resonance of pure emotion after finishing a VN, and explore what it means to be human.

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It unsurprisingly depend on the work

 

There was a time I almost committed suicide, and for a long time after, the warmth from VN was the drug keeping me from trying again. At the time what I loved about VN was simple love stories and the kind, unselfish characters helping each other get better, even if it reinforced how hollow my life was in comparison. I made that sounds really simple and unimportant, but considering it kept me alive, it was very important.

 

While this was there before as well, now that I am better focus more on other aspects. I have branched away from utsuge/drama VN to other genres, even if I have to go through dlsite doujin and otoge to do so.

 

Some of it are enjoyment without too much depth. And while everyone else have focused on really powerful impacts, I feel it is just as important to have doses of "average". Not "average quality" so much as "average life". And just casual enjoyment is also very important, or VN would become a trap for our thoughts and feelings instead of a mountain we come out stronger after climbing it.

 

And by climbing it I'm of course talking about the actually deep and moving VN.

Interestingly I've lately begun to feel that VN that moves me to tears and make me feel really relatable are actually not that rare (hence my user name). There are certainly more of them than I have time to read.

So lately (and it might change again, who knows) I really like VNs that go one step further from appealing to my humanity to instead challenge it.

VNs that force me to ask "what's better for this world", "how should I be living my own life", or even "what does it mean to be human?".

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So lately (and it might change again, who knows) I really like VNs that go one step further from appealing to my humanity to instead challenge it. VNs that force me to ask "what's better for this world", "how should I be living my own life", or even "what does it mean to be human?".

 

Swan Song is an excellent Visual Novel that quite intelligently questions the purpose of humanity, civilization, and morality. You sound fairly well read regarding Visual Novels (I also get the feeling you know Japanese), but if you haven't read it yet, I recommend it. 

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Swan Song is an excellent Visual Novel that quite intelligently questions the purpose of humanity, civilization, and morality. You sound fairly well read regarding Visual Novels (I also get the feeling you know Japanese), but if you haven't read it yet, I recommend it.

I do know Japanese, but am probably less well read than most people who frequent fuwa actually. Thanks for the suggestion.
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