tj0jeejee Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 Hello. I'm new to VNs, so far only played Katawa Shoujo but looking to get into more. But I'd like to know one thing about the execution of romance-themed Vn's, the ones similar to KS where you're stablish a relationship with one of several heroines. So I liked how the game handled it, in that the relationship progresses in each heroine's individual route, and all of them didn't just suddenly fall head over heels for the protag in the common route. Do most other VN's do it in a similar tasteful manner, or is the initial common route more often a harem of girls who already adore the protagonist, from where you're supposed to pick one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shota_Victory Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 It's generally an even split between "slow development" and "love at first sight". Katawa Shoujo does the common route very well, but harem routes aren't necessarily a bad thing-it depends on the talents of the writer more than anything. The first game that bears similarity to Katawa off the top of my head would be Kanon, which has some heroines who have a crush on the protaganist, but less "head-over-heels-oh-god-marry-me-now" like most harem anime do. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tj0jeejee Posted December 20, 2016 Author Share Posted December 20, 2016 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Shota_Victory said: It's generally an even split between "slow development" and "love at first sight". Katawa Shoujo does the common route very well, but harem routes aren't necessarily a bad thing-it depends on the talents of the writer more than anything. The first game that bears similarity to Katawa off the top of my head would be Kanon, which has some heroines who have a crush on the protaganist, but less "head-over-heels-oh-god-marry-me-now" like most harem anime do. Good luck! Cheers! So what would you consider a well-written more haremy VN? The problem I have is that it seems much less realistic and I think it'd therefore weaken the atmosphere. Then again I have no experience, so would love to try those out as well. Edited December 20, 2016 by tj0jeejee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchhamilton Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 it really depends. there are vns where it is head over heels love at first site and if its a harem vn, its common. hmm, sadly i cant think of any accessible romance vns other than if my heart had wings as an example. if my heart had wings does have a bunch of girls surrounding the protag but its not really written as harem or anything. there is a slight interest from the girls but thats probably just curiosity form their part since they dont interact with many boys. but none of them fall head over heels with him until he their route. so, it depends is what im saying. hmm, i would give some recs if thats your preferred delivery of romance but sadly i just cant think of any right now other than if my heart had wings. it is a pretty nice vn none the less. its my favorite vn of all time in fact. Chronopolis 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ittaku Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 There are no rules and there are numerous ways to handle it. Some make the common route short and put you on a path with the heroine you fall for quickly and the other heroines go into the background to varying degrees. Others have a huge common route and short path with one heroine towards the end. Others will keep the other heroines in the foreground as part of the same story, or change the story completely and how they behave depending on which heroine you choose. Others will make the other heroines jealous and change their behaviour leading to conflict. Others will allow you to participate in an unhappy love triangle/polygon and end up with one/more/none of the heroines. The one I'm currently playing you spend time with each heroine, sorting out each girl's problems and even get to H them before you leave the common route after you choose one girl exclusively... or you can choose harem route and continue having all of them in various combinations... And so on and so forth... Chronopolis 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shota_Victory Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 46 minutes ago, tj0jeejee said: So what would you consider a well-written more haremy VN? The Devil on G-String (G-Senjou no Maou) has a harem approach to its common route romance, with the heroines all having various relationships that act as stereotypes. It's widely considered one of the best visual novels ever made, however, due to how it plays out the character tropes and the strength of the storyline that the game is built on top of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solidbatman Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 poorly usually. Barktooth 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nandemonai Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 How to put this ... You are looking at visual novels the wrong way. It's like watching a single movie - say a James Bond movie - and trying to extrapolate to what movies as a whole are like. You can find VNs telling lots of different kinds of stories. Even just among romance VNs. There are all kinds of romance games. There are games that are little more than excuses to get into the girls' pants, in which the excuse plot is romance-related. There are games about doomed romance. There's even (if I'm informed correctly) a horror-romance VN called Gore Screaming Show that has quite a stellar reputation (though I haven't played it myself). To answer your specific question, it depends on the game. Sometimes, all the girls almost entirely disappear from the story once you land on a girl's route. Sometimes, all the girls are in love with you from day one. Sometimes, they all hate you, and the story is about slowly winning them over. Sometimes, just the girl whose route you're on falls for you. Sometimes, more than one falls for you and it's played for comedy; sometimes, for drama. I know of one game (OzMafia, an otome game) that actually takes it to the logical extreme: for some of the characters, when you enter character A's route, character B gets jealous, and you can actually switch from A to B. Note that you could also continue on A's route, or by playing differently, take B's normal route. And then there's the infamous School Days, which simply ... lets you choose. There are two main heroines, they both love you, you can stay faithful, or not; if you don't, very bad things happen when they find out, involving body counts! Now, translated, that's another matter. But there's still a lot of stuff available. mitchhamilton, Dreamysyu and Chronopolis 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Okarin Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Well, you generally have to do something (i. e. get one or more choices right) to score with a girl. Like in Katawa, running track with Emi and showing her your effort (and what happens after that) gets you into her route. That's at least somewhat realistic; you don't suddenly get crazy about someone if you don't have a "kickstarter" experience, unless it's platonic love. Especially true for women... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakoRin Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 In general the common route introduces the heroines and provides some interaction and character development between the MC and the other heroines. Along the way you get to make decisions that allow you to score points and trigger events with each heroine and generally build up their affection for you. At the end of the common route, depending on the amount of points you have you'll either enter a heroine's route or reach a bad end assuming that the devs have created one. Although there are games where you literally choose the route you wanna enter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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