Portrait / Side sprites next to the textbox

[Diamon]

Hey everyone^^

First let me clarify what I mean by side sprite / portrait, it's basically this :

[Nosebleed]

This is one gimmick i never understood. If the character is talking with a sprite onscreen why do you need a second sprite on the bottom? I always thought it was a little cluttery and redundant but since most VNs let you turn it off it usually doesn't bug me.

The only time i recognize this is useful is when the character is not onscreen.

So yeah personally i think just having the character sprites doing the facial expressions is enough and the only time you could use a textbox portrait is when the character isn't on the scene but is still talking.

I also like it when the MC gets a portrait since most games never give them a sprite so that gives them some kind of face and more expressions in general.

[Eclipsed]

I've always been neutral towards character side portraits

Agree on its redundancy when characters are already on screen, but also agree on its benefits for characters that aren't on screen.

Princess Evangile is one VN that only uses side portraits for off screen characters, and I thought that was pretty nifty.

Side portrait for protagonist is an interesting one. At first I thought I'd be neutral towards it too, but thinking about it, I'm leaning more towards the 'it breaks immersion' side. Dunno why. Maybe cuz I tend to view what's on screen as what's being seen by the MC so seeing his/her portrait down there when speaking would be like wut.

~~
Maybe make side portraits a toggleable feature? Satisfy both worlds 

[Kanbe]

I prefer it only be used for off-screen characters

[Satsuki]

Is it just me, or the 3rd question sounds a bit sexist?

I have no problem with the side portraits btw. I like it, in fact.

[Zenophilious]

Honestly, I don't care either way, but it's nice having it for non-voiced VNs, especially when a character that's offscreen is talking, and the only way to tell who's talking is either through the context or if the writers/TL made a note.  Admittedly, it's a bit redundant, and can irk me occasionally, but so far I haven't really had a problem with it.

 

Personally, I hate it when VNs try to get you to pretend you're the main character, so the third question is pretty irrelevant for me.  I'm reading it for the story, not to pretend that I'm in a relationship or that I'm having sex with 2D girls.

[Kosakyun]

I don't really mind it.

If they just want to flaunt the cute sprites, then why not?

Though most of the time, I don't see this certain gimmick.

 

I'm neutral about it.

[Nimbus]

I find it useful when the character is off screen and early in the story (while I'm still trying to match faces to names).

 

I do agree that it's rather pointless if the character is already on screen.

[edwd2]

dont like it if it means sprites wont change expressions. eg. muramasa, yumina

[HotTrax]

It is nice for off-screen characters, but does not bother me at all if it has it for on-screen characters. 

[Deep Blue]

This works when the novel doesn't have character sprites like swan song otherwise seems redundant

 

 

Is it just me, or the 3rd question sounds a bit sexist?

I have no problem with the side portraits btw. I like it, in fact.

He is saying that if the MC (which most of the time is male) is being portrayed breaks the immersion of the novel, I don't think it's about gender

[firecat]

i already know who the character is so why do i need a head on the textbox, i only like it if the character is off-screen not when i can see them.

[Hooves]

It's understandable that everyone is towards side-sprites only if the character is off screen I still like Dengeki Stryker's use of it. As if there wasn't anything interesting going on in the background. I can still see the facial expressions on the left and just keep my field of vision around the textbox. Which helps me go through sections at a quicker pace, if there's an expression I haven't seen I just check the character on the screen itself.

[Satsuki]

The portrait system is still much better than stuff like this btw.