thelemmallama

Hm, so it seems like most VNs still have the 'good' ending as the 'last' ending at least? After thinking about it a bit, I think the feeling I'm going for is 'the bad endings are *conclusive* and therefore more dramatic in the sense of "something has been DESTROYED and there is no recovering from this"'. Whereas with the good ending, a major 'block' is overcome and that's what makes it cathartic, but the change basically happens within the characters and there isn't any particularly dramatic external consequences; it's basically just 'life goes on' but now they're no longer stuck in the loop they were in for the majority of the story and can move forward and work on their other issues at their own pace. So I do think I want it to be more of a lowkey sense of relief; just a breath of fresh air , like if you've been lost in a tunnel it's less 'you BLOW UP the cave walls and emerge into the dazzling light of day' and more 'oh, I found the exit ... thank goodness ...!' - I think I like the sense of realism it brings If you know of any examples that might've been aiming for that (whether executed well or poorly), I'd love to check them out - but regardless you've been a big help and given me a bit to consider; I guess it's ultimately up to me to decide if it's work risking the pitfalls you specified by attempting to do what I currently have in mind XD

Thanks for the examples! I didn't know utsuges can have good endings (my VN repertoire isn't the largest lmao :P) Hmmm ... I don't think I'd be too mad about that, maybe. I don't want the VN to feel *hopeless* but it is supposed to be pretty sad. Maybe a bad ending that leaves approximately the impact of Undertale's genocide route is what I'm looking for. I guess I'm thinking of having my endings that way because with the way events naturally progress, I feel like the point where my good ending happens is the best place for it to happen because the momentum has been built up and everything, and I don't think I want to drag it out artificially. At the very least, leaving a happy last impression is probably not worth sacrificing this ... Follow-up question: if a VN has an unambiguously happy, cathartic good ending that at least stands out in that it's the only ending with a unique credits sequence, but also a couple of bad endings (all with the same credits sequence), one of which is the 'missed flag' type and another is noticeably longer gameplay-wise than the good ending, would you say it's a nakige or utsuge?

Ooh, an idea I had but decided to abandon was the guy is in college studying to be a teacher, and the girls all have different majors (I think my heroines had business, chem, math, philosophy and art), and their different routes influenced what kind of teacher MC becomes. Also they found a club called the 'Silly Research Society' where they get together every fortnight and someone gives a talk/presentation/'seminar' on literally whatever they feel like over afternoon tea

So I've been writing a VN, but there are a few bad endings that take place chronologically later than the good ending. Like, you hit the scene where the good ending is supposed to take place, but if you don't have the right flags, the game continues and proceeds to a bad ending appropriate for your flags. Any other visual novels that have done this? Is that even a good idea? XD ___ Specifically I'm worried about the 'good ending being shorter than some of the bad endings' part rather than the flag part. Because all of the VNs I know about seem to have the best ending be the 'final' ending (like Steins;Gate), and when the game ends 'prematurely', it's always a bad ending (or at the very least a 'lesser' good ending that's still not the 'true' ending). Whereas my 'good ending' kind of 'cuts the game short' in the same way the bad endings in Steins;Gate 'cuts the game short' on the way to the good ending. Like, if someone hits one of my 'long' bad endings first, then goes back and gets my good ending, would they kind of get a sense of "... that's it? That's all there is to the good ending? Feels kind of anticlimactic."? I don't think the good ending scene itself is written in a way that's anticlimactic on its own and if someone gets it first (or after my 'shorter' bad endings), I'm confident it would be satisfying and cathartic, but I'm wondering if the comparative length to my other bad endings would weaken that sense of resolution XD