Things that make you want to play a VN?

[Chronopolis]

Are there any things that really draw you in to, or make you really excited about playing a VN? .
Things like certain vndb tags (One True End, Multi-Route Mystery), things you notice in the OP, art style.
They could be settings, like medieval fantasy, yakuza (badass!), European settings, western-style mansion (I find the setting very calming).
Could be a favourite premise or genre.

For me, while looking at CG's in vndb, besides pretty art, I look for impactful CG's. Stuff like Yuki from G-Senjyou.
https://s.vndb.org/sf/44/17144.jpg

Another thing that catches my eye BG art in CG's. For example, take this CG from Eden*
https://s.vndb.org/sf/90/12590.jpg
While the characters are pretty nice on their own, the BG is all properly done. It gives you the feeling of being there

Stylized Art as well, like "A Beautiful" series or Steins Gate.

A strong OP song pushes me to want to play the VN, since the VN kind of is represented by the emotions in the OP. Strong, non-formulaic cgs are another thing I like.
Catagra's OP was a good example of both of these, it also has the hint of eerie supernatural, which I also like. Three bird with one stone!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPrmYs8_oYc

What pulls you in to reading a VN?

Edited October 22, 2015 by Chronopolis

[CruelN1N1]

Art,comedy and feels

I also like rpg vn

[Wonderfullyevil]

1) If it's known for being mad. Through the Madness tag, or something like Forest, or something plain wacky.

2) If it's depressing or not. I like Utsuge especially.

3) Style. WAB comes to mind.

4) Prose. Again, WAB. My hype for Gakhthun is immense.

5) Music. Good music = good game. I played Umineko for its music. I probably liked it better than the game itself.

6) References, or having that erudite feeling like SubaHibi and Liar-soft.

7) Being well-reputed.

 

[hussien-11]

- The music: I'll read any visual novel if the music convinced me of that.

- Depressing stories: I like them, and I like human drama in general.

Sometimes small things do catch my interest for very simple reasons, like the idea of the story, or a design for a character, etc... and I decide to play the game just for that.

[Satsuki]

1. Nice looking art. This is the No.1 reason for me. Even if the story is a little bit dumb, as long as it has good art, I will play it (though whether or not I will drop it later is a different matter). A very fine example is Panical Confusion.

2. Has a character(s) that I like. Yup, there are a lot of titles that I played only because of a single heroine. And I also only played that one heroine's route and be done with it. Neko Masshigura is one of those, which I only played Chiaki route, then dropped the hell out of it.

3. Comedy. I do play serious stuff from time to time, but I much prefer the ones with high comedy level. Like this shit

4. Developer. There are some developers that I will just go ahead and play anything that they release, like Yuzusoft or Lump of Sugar.

 

[Deep Blue]

1) Good plot, that keeps up a good pace and has a good drama specially if it is depressing, no super natural bs or magic.

2) Good music.

3) Translated if possible (I don't like to spend 1 hours for something that translated would take me 15/10 min )

I will play anything that fits with those requisites.

[InvictusCobra]

Some aspects that I enjoy the most in VNs have changed since I first started reading them. Before I'd take anything with romance and comedy, granted the story was at least mildy good. Nowadays, I'm more inclined for darker themes and VNs that are more focused on violent stories with high amounts of fights, or just grim in general (most things by Nitro+ or Gen Urobuchi come to mind).  If it has psychotic or bloodthirsty villains, even better (i.e. Hazama and Azrael from Blazblue). 

Some things that have remained with me for the whole of my reading time have been: 

Good art (bonus points for a high amount of CGs)

Nice music (I prefer something more agitated and heavy)

Taboo themes such as incest 

Happy endings

 

[AaronIsCrunchy]

A protagonist with a personality beyond 'stereotypical pervert/nice guy #1'.

A horror or mystery theme.

Background art has to be visually appealing, and I'm a sucker for natural surroundings. Not so fussed about the drawing of the sprites as long as they look OK, so basically as long as they're better than the original Higurashi ones I'm cool. Slightly prefer the post-2000 style to the style used in the 1990s but I think that's just a familiarity thing.

Translated but translated well. I'm not a snob, but I think everyone here would agree MoeNovel's translation of Kono Oozora is pretty darn poor.

[Kawasumi]

madness, denpa, utsuge and proactive protagonist tags usually make my penis go hard.

 

Also if I randomly find a good OP on youtube, that gets me interested as well.

Also quirky ways of writing (like: https://vndb.org/v1278)

[CeruleanGamer]

1. Gameplay aspect. Not just setting the game to auto or pressing enter and reading lines all freaking day.

2. NTR. See my sig.

3. Amazing Box Art. If I see cute girls and even hot guys, I'll tap..... I mean play it

4. Lots of CG/Scenes. I'm a hoarder, collector, and completionist. I enjoy 100% a visual novel by collecting all scenes/CGs just like I do with console games.

[monkeysrumble]

1) Art is probably the biggest appeal to me, mostly character design. Most of the time it's usually a certain character that appeals me to a VN.

2) Word of mouth is also a really big factor. If people say it's good then there's a good chance I'll try it out.

3) Tsunderes.

4) Whether or not it has h-scenes does play a really small roll. If it has h-scenes it does increase my chances of playing it, thought that doesn't mean I avoid all-ages either.

5) I love Nakige stories.

6) Does it have a tsundere?

[MikeY91]

I usually like a vn with a realistic atmosphere, mainly from the point of psychological behavior. And I would say that this is rarely the case in most vns, the best example I could give is Swan Song, so far this is the only vn that followed an almost realistic psychological approach. This is why for me I think it was a masterpiece, all the characters behaviors made sense and were realistic.

So yeah that's the most important thing for me in a vn, I don't mind sci-fi and all that as long as at least the vn follows a realistic psychological approach.

 Other than that, I usually prefer a vn that has heroines and/protagonist with psychological problems, I like to see how they deal with those problems and how they handle them. Mainly I look for vns that deal with characters who suffered abuse/rape/trauma etc in their past, also my favourite type is a vn that has characters who suffer from social phobia or any related issue.

I'm playing Grisaia right now and I like it so far, the only downside is that sometimes the vn takes the "supernatural" approach to explain things while it could have easily used the psychological way. An example is in Michiru's route:

Michiru could have developed the other personality because of what she had suffered in her childhood, that could have been a split personality disorder or a multiple personality disorder, but NOPE, the vn decides that she got this personality from the girl whom she got the new heart from. That was a major turn off for me. Because I could easily say that Michiru is probably my favorite heroine in all the vns I have played so far. I still loved the route but it could have been better if they hadn't screwed that up. 

So yeah, that's what I mainly look for in vns. And sadly what I'm looking for isn't something that you can easily find in vns.

Edited October 22, 2015 by MikeY91

[Eclipsed]

No particular traits are catalysts to my reading of VNs, the key to getting me to read depends entirely upon the stars of the cosmos aligning properly

...cute art.

[Hijiri]

Either my attention is drawn in the easy way:

As in MANSERVICE

 Or if the story seems interesting enough and it isn't dating sim #233356

[VirginSmasher]

1. Nakiges cause I love to be emotionally destroyed.

2. The heroines have to look really unique and interesting.

3. Mostly if the plot description is really interesting, I'll try it out for sure.

[Black Sands Entertainment]

I got drawn into Loren the Amazon because of the large cast of characters that have their own things going on. I don't like "support characters" in a story. I like when everyone could give a damn about the main character except how it benefits them -)

[Zalor]

Wow, Chronopolis actually started a topic. That is reason enough to crawl out of the shadows and make a post before crawling back into the shadows.

What makes me want to read a VN above all else is when I see a unique art-style (or unique visual presentation in general), and/or it has a unique and interesting premise. Although I've noticed that often unique visuals and unique story go hand in hand. Now for me, unique visuals extents past simply unconventional character art or background art (those are of course welcome), but the presentation of the words and pictures counts as well. For instance, while Symphonic Rain, Narcissu, Yume Miru Kusuri, Saya no Uta, etc are included in my list of unique visual presentation; I include works like Swan Song as well. Swan Song doesn't use character sprites, and presents the text in a way that accommodates the images. In addition, since Swan Song is more like a novel in many regards, and the way the text is presented gives that feel as well. Here is an example:

 

Thankfully learning Japanese has opened doors to me, since I was beginning to run out of translated VNs that actually interested me. The VN I am currently reading: Sayonara wo Oshiete has saved me from my starvation in search of an interesting VN that uses its art to enhance the story. The VN is Denpa story done right. All the scenes take place during the twilight hours of the day, which just adds to the eeriness of the story and events that unfold. 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2015 by Zalor

[MikeY91]

Wow, Chronopolis actually started a topic. That is reason enough to crawl out of the shadows and make a post before crawling back into the shadows.

What makes me want to read a VN above all else is when I see a unique art-style (or unique visual presentation in general), and/or it has a unique and interesting premise. Although I've noticed that often unique visuals and unique story go hand in hand. Now for me, unique visuals extents past simply unconventional character art or background art (those are of course welcome), but the presentation of the words and pictures counts as well. For instance, while Symphonic Rain, Narcissu, Yume Miru Kusuri, Saya no Uta, etc are included in my list of unique visual presentation; I include works like Swan Song as well. Swan Song doesn't use character sprites, and presents the text in a way that accommodates the images. In addition, since Swan Song is more like a novel in many regards, and the way the text is presented gives that feel as well. Here is an example:

 

Hidden Content

Thankfully learning Japanese has opened doors to me, since I was beginning to run out of translated VNs that actually interested me. The VN I am currently reading: Sayonara wo Oshiete has saved me from my starvation in search of an interesting VN that uses its art to enhance the story. The VN is Denpa story done right. All the scenes take place during the twilight hours of the day, which just adds to the eeriness of the story and events that unfold. 

 

Hidden Content

 

Swan Song was a masterpiece, period. definitely one of the very best vns, i doubt i will find anything like that soon in terms of realistic psychological behavior .

I also fear i will run out of good vns cuz i can't read japanese right now, it is definitely on my future plans, i would like to explore all vns instead of limiting myself to English translated ones. how long did it take you to learn Japanese?

Edited October 23, 2015 by MikeY91

[Zalor]

Swan Song was a masterpiece, period. definitely one of the very best vns, i doubt i will find anything like that soon in terms of realistic psychological behavior .

I also fear i will run out of good vns cuz i can't read japanese right now, it is definitely on my future plans, i would like to explore all vns instead of limiting myself to English translated ones. how long did it take you to learn Japanese?

Interesting you should ask, since the guy who started this topic was a bit of a mentor for me. Anyway, I've been self studying Japanese for around a year now. The way I studied was by learning the grammar (Tae Kim Grammar is a great guide), and then actually reading VNs with dictionary software. I still have a lot to learn, but my Japanese is now at the point when I can recognize most grammar (so long as it isn't complex/uncommon stuff). Words often get repeated, so you will naturally gain a vocabulary the more you read. Although, I've also taken to using flashcards as well. There are all sorts of methods on how you can efficiently retain vocab and new grammar you learn. But ultimately the most important thing to do is simply to expose yourself to the language (in other words read a lot with dictionaries and grammar guides to help you, until you eventually become less reliant on them).  

[MikeY91]

Swan Song was a masterpiece, period. definitely one of the very best vns, i doubt i will find anything like that soon in terms of realistic psychological behavior .

I also fear i will run out of good vns cuz i can't read japanese right now, it is definitely on my future plans, i would like to explore all vns instead of limiting myself to English translated ones. how long did it take you to learn Japanese?

Interesting you should ask, since the guy who started this topic was a bit of a mentor for me. Anyway, I've been self studying Japanese for around a year now. The way I studied was by learning the grammar (Tae Kim Grammar is a great guide), and then actually reading VNs with dictionary software. I still have a lot to learn, but my Japanese is now at the point when I can recognize most grammar (so long as it isn't complex/uncommon stuff). Words often get repeated, so you will naturally gain a vocabulary the more you read. Although, I've also taken to using flashcards as well. There are all sorts of methods on how you can efficiently retain vocab and new grammar you learn. But ultimately the most important thing to do is simply to expose yourself to the language (in other words read a lot with dictionaries and grammar guides to help you, until you eventually become less reliant on them).  

I see, aregato i will surely start learning Japanese once i have free time, i am very interested, and i blame Anime and vns for that lol in your opinion, linguistically, is the Japanese language better in terms of Visual Novels? i mean aside from the fact that vns being originally in Japanese and that sometimes the English translation sucks, between Japanese and English language, which one is more suited for visual novels?

i am asking this because i know languages differ in terms of being descriptive, for example, between the Arabic Language and English, English stands no chance lol Arabic is very known for being one of the best languages in terms of being able to describe anything in a very creative way,.

[StormShaun]

I have a couple of things, sure, they aren't necessary, but it is nice to have them.

- Good writing. (Story, plot, and character. I won't count perfect spelling and grammar in this, but it has to be damn passable!)
- Characters/heroines I can make a connection with.
- A concept/theme that can draw out my interest.

Bonus points if it also has good music, CG, well done H-scenes, or intriguing gameplay. 

Edited October 23, 2015 by StormShaun

[Zalor]

 I see, aregato i will surely start learning Japanese once i have free time, i am very interested, and i blame Anime and vns for that lol in your opinion, linguistically, is the Japanese language better in terms of Visual Novels? i mean aside from the fact that vns being originally in Japanese and that sometimes the English translation sucks, between Japanese and English language, which one is more suited for visual novels?

i am asking this because i know languages differ in terms of being descriptive, for example, between the Arabic Language and English, English stands no chance lol Arabic is very known for being one of the best languages in terms of being able to describe anything in a very creative way,.

I honestly didn't know that about Arabic. But as for your question, perspectives on that vary. There are some people out there who will tell you that the only way people should read VNs is in Japanese (this is an extreme opinion, and I disagree with it), but reading the original does allow to you to experience the original in its intended glory. My personal perspective is that good writing in any language is good writing. A visual novel translated well into English can be quite enjoyable, and a well-written Japanese VN is enjoyable. So yeah, I don't have a bias towards one or the other. The biggest problem is that since Japanese and English are so different, sometimes things are virtually untranslatable. This is the issue with most Masada works. His VNs are written in ways that exploit the Japanese language in ways that are very difficult to replicate in English. That's at least what I've been told. I probably need at least another year of Japanese under my belt before I'm ready to tackle a Masada VN (like Dies Irae).   

[Darklord Rooke]

  before I'm ready to tackle a Masada VN (like Dies Irae).   

Zalor to translate Dies Irae next year, confirmed!

Good luck with your studies

[Thomas]

For me the number one reason to play a vn is the art, it has to have good looking girls

2: I prefer nakige vn,s. Like VirginSmasher posted, i like to be emotionally destroyed

3: Preferably translated, my Japanese sucks 

4: Comedy yes please

5: Good music a good Op can draw me in

6: Happy endings it must have happy endings i hate bad ones

[melo4496]

Beautiful art pushes me in reading a game. For example, I love Nanairo reincarnation's art: https://s.vndb.org/sf/26/75626.jpg

Seiyuu (voice actresses) that I like. (ie. Kawashima rino, Misonoo Mei,)

BGM - Great example of nice music would be Grisaia.

then Comedy. If I found myself laughing a lot in a game, I probably will not drop it.

Edited October 23, 2015 by melo4496